Spanderverse: Confusion of Three
by harsens-rob
Summary: Spanderverse Story 5: Toth comes to Sunnydale and we get CommandoXander, ZeppoXander and HyenaXander.
1. October 1st

Disclaimer: Legal stuff, don't own characters, haven't made any money, this is for entertainment purposes, no profit earned, lawyers go away. –_kisses-_

You can comment on this or any Spanderverse stories by visiting the Spanderverse forum under the Buffy topic!

POV: Shifts Perspective

Spoiler Alert: There are tidbits from past episodes and Spanderverse: stories.

Notes: Sixth story in the Spanderverse-universe, following "Spanderverse: Burial". Everything from the television series through the defeat of Adam also occurred as depicted, in the Spanderverse. Following Burial and before this story BTVS: Real Me occurred. This is the Spanderverse: version of BTVS: The Replacement. **_Note in the Spanderverse, Anya was employed at the Magic Shop by Mr. Bogerty until 'Real Me', as mentioned in Spanderverse: Dracula._**

People's thoughts are depicted in _italics_. You'll find emphasis depicted with an underline.

More Notes: BIG thanks to Joss, the ME creative team and the crew of one of the best shows on television. WE MISS YOU!

Thanks to the authors of Fanfiction, wherever you may post. It's probable that I've read at least one of your stories somewhere. I apologize for recycling concepts inadvertently from the plentitude of stories I've read.

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**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Chapter One: October 1st

**Night had fallen in Sunnydale and the overcast sky had grown gloomy. The weather outside gave signs of impending rain as the fall season wore on. The temperature had dropped to the fifty-degree mark but with the wind blowing it had felt much colder. It was an evening that those of Southern California, and specifically Sunnydale, could do without.**

**Buffy glanced out of the living room window at the leaves and trash blowing down the street. With Joyce upstairs resting from more migraines and Dawn across the street studying with friends, she had the downstairs to herself. Well, herself and Willow and Xander. Willow was currently watching as the cable television guide scrolled up the screen. Xander had brought out the cans of Coke and the bowl of popcorn and they were now ready for a quiet evening in. _Just the core Scoobies, minus Giles, without any of the significant others,_ Buffy smiled to herself. They didn't have many evenings anymore when the three of them could just get together to talk.**

**Xander exclaimed in excitement at something on the cable menu and Willow hit the appropriate key on the pad. In seconds a brightly dressed Hindi woman was singing to a pack mule. Behind her were ten dancing women, all in white and gold who were making 'ahh-ahhh-ooh-ahhh' backup singer sounds.**

**"Ooh, Indian musical," Buffy exclaimed. She opened Xander's proffered can of carbonated sugar and thought how great it was to not be patrolling tonight. Things had been quiet again, unusually, lately. Things were just starting to pick up as far as Hellmouth activity went, but then word had gotten out about Dracula's defeat. Buffy didn't really understand how information could pass so quickly through the demon underworld, but she was glad for it anyway. With another 'major baddie' dusted by the Slayer, once again the demon population had either vacated or decided to keep the 'crush, kill, destroy' raids to a minimum. There'd been a brief scuffle the past Thursday that had left Buffy bruised and battered, but Slayer healing had already taken care of those injuries. With things so quiet, she'd asked Riley if she could take a night off just to spend with Willow and Xander alone. Being the perfect boyfriend, of course, he'd agreed. **

**Buffy felt a small pang of worry, hoping he wouldn't run into anything he couldn't handle out there tonight. That was quickly forgotten as Xander, sitting on the floor in front of the center of the sofa, looked back at her and Willow occupying opposite corners of that same sofa.**

**"I talked to Giles today," he addressed his two best friends, "the bank gave him the loan."**

**"So, he really is buying the shop, huh?" Buffy placed a sardonic look on her features, "Guess that means we'll be spending even more time in the hoogedy-boogedy store, then."**

**Willow, naturally was beaming, anything involving magic made her happy. "Well, I think it's great. I mean Tara and I will be able to save so much money on supplies with the 'Slayer's Friend Discount'."**

**Xander once again entered the conversation, "Anya's been sucking up to him all week, trying to get her sales job back. She's spent all day today drawing up purchasing lists, contacting suppliers, you know…kissing Watcher bootie." There was a short pause, "Except, you know, not literally, 'cause, ew."**

**"I'm more worried about shop owner's life expectancies there, or the lack thereof," Buffy shared.**

**"So far ahead of you, my petite, yet oddly powerful friend," Xander graced her with one of his patented 'Snoopy grins'. "Tomorrow I'm taking a look at the doors. I'll come up with something to reinforce them. At least, if Giles will stop henpecking me over finishing the shelves I'm doing for him. At no cost, I'd like to add. The man is such a drama queen."**

**A round of laughter and nods greeted this comment before attention was again turned to the screen. As the same woman that had been singing before, possibly a soon-to-be-bride on her way to meet her fiancé, sang another song in front of an elaborate fountain, interest again turned to conversation.**

**"I've got Riley on vampire patrol. How'd you get Anya to be elsewhere tonight, Xan?"**

**"Suggested that Giles needed help with cataloguing artifacts at his apartment. You know; all those shiny trinkets he brought out of storage when he was going back to England? I told her he'd probably really appreciate the help…might be the deciding factor on whether he keeps her employed or not."**

**"You're evil," Buffy said with a grin, "and Giles will make you pay."**

**"I'm so glad he's decided to stay," Willow added. "It was so hard not to tell you guys when he was going all crazy-person about getting the database for the books done. It's a good thing you decided to train with him more, Buffy. I was completely drawing a blank on making him stay here."**

**"Yeah. Me, too. Of course, it would be easier to focus on my meditation exercises if my mom would stop making me drag the pain around with me everywhere I go. I swear, one of these times, I'm going to take her patrolling with me and sell her to the first demon I meet." Buffy looked a little worried for a moment, "I guess I need to keep her busy though. Mom's headaches seem to be getting more frequent and Dawn can be a little…rambunctious."**

**"Still, huh?" Willow frowned in Buffy's direction, "Maybe now is the time for the doctor's?"**

**"She has an appointment on Thursday, finally. I think it's just the stress of managing the gallery. She basically has one person on her staff and there must be enough work for three people, at least. I offered to threaten the owner into hiring her more help, but she said it wouldn't be 'ladylike'." **

**"Imagine that." Willow said, another grin playing on her face.**

**"So, Wills," Xander added, "what about Tara?"**

**"Blessing spells. She wants to work some Holy water into her incantations, especially after Drac-" Willow came to a sudden stop, looking aghast.**

**There were a several moments of uncomfortable silence. No one wanted to mention Dracula in the same room with Xander, which he appreciated. But then there were times like this, when everyone suddenly went to the uncomfortable fidgeting place and he found himself feeling under a microscope. Yes, Dracula had hurt them and yes he'd almost killed Xander. And, of course, his father was murdered, nearly a month ago and while the pain lingered on, Xander was trying so hard to put it behind him and get back into the normal Scooby-routine. He'd managed to deal with his anger and grief, at least most of the time. The beating on vampires was good therapy, and when that wasn't helpful, there was always the beer. Great big, anesthetizing six packs of treatment.**

**There was still the guilt, of course. That he wasn't more broken up by his father's death had him daily asking 'what the hell is wrong with me', but he was hiding that from his friends. He wished they could all just speak normally about their dusted bad guy, like they'd discuss any of the other ones. It wasn't to be though. Dracula had been different and Xander had an empty house to prove it.**

**Pushing these thoughts away, as he did several times a day, Xander tried to dispel the tension in the room. "Did I tell you that Giles has actually, finally, chosen a name for the shop too? He's ordering the sign tomorrow."**

**"Oh, yeah? Don't keep us in suspense, then." **

**_Good old Buffy, _Xander thought, _always ready to pick up on an 'I want to avoid this topic' hint._ "Yeah. Apparently, instead of the 'Magic Shop', it was far more creative to rename it the 'Magic Box'."**

**"That's it?" Buffy was incredulous, "That's really lame!"**

**"That's what I said. I wanted him to call it something like 'Dragons and Thunderbolts' or 'Potions and Fireballs' or something else really cool."**

**"What does Anya think," Willow wanted to know. Not because she had any real interest in Anya's opinions, and couldn't imagine why Giles would either. But, she'd just committed a major faux pas by naming 'he which we agree not to name around Xander' and she was now feeling self-conscious. She needed to jump back into the conversation quickly before she started babbling and probably naming 'he which we agree not to name around Xander' a dozen more times.**

**"I'm not sure. I think she's so busy trying to get her job back that she'll probably not notice the name until after she's hired. She'll probably want to call it something like, 'Hexes, Curses, and other Bloody Fun Times'." This was said lightly with a laugh, "You know; ex-demon and all."**

**"What about you two's arguments, lately," Buffy asked, "any better?" It was a not-so-secret secret that Xander and Anya were in a low point of the relationship. She wanted desperately to move out of Ms. Milner's Boarding House, but she didn't want to move into Xander's parent's 'fixer-upper' home. She was much more into luxury apartments. At least, luxury by Sunnydale standards, which could still be very much unaffordable on a construction worker wage.**

**"Eh," Xander replied with a shrug, "still arguing."**

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End Ch 1


	2. Introducing Toth

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 2 - Introducing Toth

**The Monday morning bustle of Sunnydale was in full swing as office workers began to leave their homes for work. The sun was already bathing the morning in brightness, chasing away any fears that the town's inhabitants may have entertained in the darkness of night. The warm yellow bathed the lawns, the dew glistened, and the tree branches swayed in the gentle breeze coming in from the west of town. The gloomy cloud cover of the night before had been blown far to the east over night and everywhere people breathed a sigh of relief. Of course this was done under breath and mostly unconsciously. If questioned, no one would have admitted to feelings of foreboding over something as natural as a little gloomy weather. **

**Dawn was in the kitchen waiting for the toast to pop up from the little appliance that always seemed to be on its last leg, before summoning the strength to brown just one more piece of bread. It was Dawn's plan to replace the ancient thing with a brand new one for Christmas. Maybe, even one of those toasters that could handle four pieces of bread at a time. While she did this, Buffy was busy making coffee.**

**The girls studiously avoided speaking to one another. They had already had their first argument the moment both of them had entered the kitchen. Buffy, wanting Dawn to make her own lunch for a change, began doing that "Slayer-y giving orders" that Dawn couldn't stand. So, of course, she'd refused stating that she'd just get a few bucks from their mother for lunch.**

**With the mention of disturbing Joyce, sleeping in since she wasn't expected at the gallery today until noon, had sent Buffy on a 'super bossy' trip. Then Dawn had yelled that she wasn't a Scooby and didn't have to do what Buffy said and the Slayer had responded with a guilt trip over bothering their mother when she obviously wasn't sleeping well these days. The whole thing had ended in sullen silence between the two sisters.**

**Once Dawnie was finally out of her hair, Buffy got herself ready for classes. Her first wasn't until ten and she wanted to check in with Giles before she got to campus. It had become routine for her to allow him to watch the local news for any signs of the next demonic threat and to check with him every morning for the latest word.**

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**In the extensive cave system over which the Mayor had built Sunnydale, an unusual figure was staring over a large, black metallic cauldron. This cauldron would have looked familiar to any children who had grown up watching cartoons, as it epitomized the 'witches cauldron' that so many of the animated used to cast their fiendish spells. It was nearly as large as well, coming nearly to the waist of the six-foot, four-inched being which swayed to and fro before it. Below the cauldron a small, but intense flame was burning; causing the contents to steam.**

**The demon, for surely it was one, appeared to be in a deep meditative state of mind. Though its small dark eyes were opened, they were glassy and unfocused. Its dark skin ran with veins of a fluorescent green which seemed to glow and fade as it began to chant softly. The language, along with the demon's race, was on the verge of extinction. There were none in Sunnydale who would have recognized its words and the demon was woeful of this fact.**

**Once, the Tothric Clan had been proud and strong. After a series of lost wars, infighting, and ineffectual leaders (and the resultant near-constant coups) the population had been decimated over the last 250 years. With the death recently of his wife with no children produced, Toth was, to his knowledge, the last remaining representative of his entire species. It was a deeply painful state which he would have gladly passed upon. **

**"Spirits of the Clanhood," Toth intoned in his dying language, "hear the pleas of your last son. Let power arise from your spirit world…flow…flow…heart to mind to body. Give me, your last servant, strength for the last task ahead. Though this day be the last for your son, by all my blood and that of my line; the Slayer will die this day." And with this pronouncement, Toth grabbed a large branch of cedar wood and dipped it into the bubbling, broiling, concoction of herbs in the cauldron. **

**The branch glowed with an unearthly orange light. It elongated and thickened from a mere tree branch to a powerful club. As the power raced up the newly powered weapon it burned the hand that held it, but Toth did not let go. All magic had a price, and a little pain was his. It was nothing compared to the pain he carried within him, knowing that by the end of the day, tomorrow tops, his race could be extinct. Toth gritted his teeth and refused to cry out, even as his palm blistered. Just as he was sure his spell would fail, and his hand would burst into smoking ruin, the orange light faded. Toth stumbled back from the cauldron. Removing the club from his pained hand, he saw no sign of the burn that surely should have seared his skin to the bone. He smiled; the spell was a success. His prayerful incantation had been received by his dead kinsmen and they had blessed his plan. Though he may be gone from this place onto whichever hell-dimension he was destined to travel to, word of his great deed would precede him. The killer of a Slayer could expect worship in the beyond; he would rule his people's new home well.**

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End Ch 2


	3. Magic Shop Owners Have the Worse Luck

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 3 - Magic Shop Owners Have the Worst Luck

**That evening as the skies once again grew cloudy and cool, Giles and Anya toiled in the near-to-being-open 'Magic Box'. Giles was nervous. No, he was worried, perhaps even edging into scared. Even with his substantial down payment, paid for by nearly emptying his savings, the loan on a store was a rather large obligation. Giles once again mentally ran through his list of why it had made sense to become a shop keeper in Sunnydale. He glanced over at Anya, who was readying a list of what powders to keep away from other powders (wouldn't want the shop to go up in a fireball). **

**Sensing his stare, Anya turned her head, sighing with irritation. "Yes, it was a good thing to invest in a magic store on a Hellmouth." She said this without any enthusiasm, having grown tired of reassuring Giles over and over throughout a long, long day. "It completely makes sense to embrace the capitalist society to which you've chosen to become a member. In no time at all, you'll be rolling in the dough." Under her breath, but of course loud enough for Giles to hear, she added, "And then maybe you'll pay me something closer to what I'm actually worth."**

**Giles rolled his eyes and for the half-dozenth time that day wondered which demon possessed him when he'd actually hired Anya on. Her squeal of delight had turned sour when she'd discovered that he would only match what Mr. Bogerty had been paying her before his untimely demise. For some reason, Anya had thought she should get a raise for the simple fact that Giles knew she had all sorts of demon knowledge. The fact that he hadn't even made a single dollar in profit yet didn't dissuade her from feeling he was 'cheating her'; taking advantage of her desperation to be employed.**

**"I'm done here," Anya said. "As long as you don't get any new powders in without telling me first and if Willow doesn't start moving everything around, we should be safe." Anya got a look on her face that said she was reconsidering that last statement, "Well, as safe as a magic shop owner and a severely undervalued employee can be in this town."**

**"Yes, thank you, Anya. Feel free to, uh, 'clock out', I believe is the, uh, term."**

**"Are you sure? I don't think leaving you here alone at night is wise. You're old. And a magic shop owner. I'd say you should be being much more careful now."**

**With a pained smile, Giles waved her toward the door. "I'm not exactly decrepit yet. And we're not open. Demons only seem to crash the place during business hours. Run along, and uh, share the, um, good news about you're employment, with Xander."**

**"Well, alright. My arm is really starting to become sore, now." Anya was still sporting her left arm in a sling. She'd had her shoulder wrenched by Harmony or one of her gang when they'd kidnapped Dawn a few days ago. Fortunately, all had ended well, with no other injuries and with Dawn safe. "But lock the door behind me."**

**"Yes, yes. I'll be quite fine, thank you."**

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**Toth wandered down the alleyways of Sunnydale toward the main street. For a town of its size, Sunnydale seemed to have a rather small and localized shopping district. As the demon peeked at each cross-section between buildings, he also noticed the odd number of churches that seemed to permeate the area. Obviously, the humans weren't completely blind to the Hellmouth's effects and its call to evil forces, even if they seemed to be most of the time. The demon paused in the latest alley it had crept down and looked at the backs of the buildings surrounding it. Apparently, from the bartender it had bribed information from; the Slayer's Watcher had recently begun renovating the local magic store on this block. And where the Watcher was, the Slayer was sure to be found.**

**Toth located the building he was looking for, faded paint above a worn and scratched door just barely legibly spelling out "Magic Shop". He tried the door only to find it locked. He considered for a moment, blasting the door wide open, but rejected the rash action. Giving the Slayer a clear warning before battle would make it much harder to blast her with the Staff of Power. Though the Tothric clansmen were by no means weak, against a Slayer he would quickly fall. His only chance to gain honor in battle with her was to first weaken the Slayer, which the Staff was designed to do.**

**Toth traveled up the dark and drab alley along the side of the 'Magic Shop'. He passed another door in the side of the building, but trying its handle revealed that it was also locked. As he neared the mouth of the alley, he heard the clear ring of a bell and a door opening.**

"**Lock this door, Giles," he heard the plaintive whine of someone. A girl from the voice, perhaps even the Slayer, herself. He crouched down in the darkness and waited; his staff at the ready to fire its magical energy at the girl. As her heels clicked on the pavement, Toth tensed. Adrenaline, or the demon equivalent, raced throughout his body making him concentrate on dimming the natural glow of his veined form. **

**When the young lady crossed in front of the alley, he sighed quietly in disappointment. For, he had studied the current Slayer's features quite carefully and this was not she. He waited patiently for several minutes until her clicking heels drifted into the distance. He waited an extra minute to see if the Watcher followed the young woman out into the night, but the door's bell did not ring again. Toth peeked out onto the street and found it temporarily deserted. He slipped quickly out onto the pavement and stood before the window of the shop he had been seeking. **

**Glancing inside, he saw the Watcher writing something on a pad of paper sitting on a glass counter. The Watcher was half turned away from the door, and his line of sight did not allow him to catch a glimpse of the stalker waiting at the front of the shop. **

**Toth whispered a simple, but effective incantation, silencing the annoying bell above the doorway in the shop. He tried the door handle, finding it still unlocked. He smiled rather cruelly. The Watcher had not acted on the young woman's warning regarding locking the door. Not that it would have kept Toth out, but there would have been plenty of warning of his entrance. Now, he simply pushed the door open and slipped inside. With long strides, he was across the room and behind the Watcher before the man was even aware he'd entered.**

**Or so it appeared. As Toth walked up behind Giles, the older human spun with remarkable speed, bringing a heavy wooden object around in front of him.**

"**S-s-stop right there, demon! This, uh, statue can melt your eyeballs to liquid pools if you step any closer!" Giles shook the wooden figure at the intruder for emphasis.**

**Toth took a step back in fear. Being bested by this ordinary human would not win him the accolades in the spirit hell to which he was destined. In fact, he would be humiliated and made no higher in caste than as a slave, should such a fate befall him. Toth stared at the mystical weapon the Watcher wielded toward him menacingly. The figure was female, its wood polished to a bright sheen. The eyes of the statue were a red gemstone of some sort; definitely an indication that it could have mystic powers. As Toth studied the statue, he noticed it was human looking. The breasts of the female were quite large and its belly protruded outward.**

**Toth laughed at his fear of a moment ago. The Watcher had spine, he'd give him that. Toth re-took the step he'd backed up, crowding the human in front of him. "That is a fertility statue," he informed the Watcher. Apparently the old man's seeing glasses were not of sufficient strength. "And I am a male, anyway." Toth chuckled but then the Watcher swung the statue, connecting solidly with the side of his head.**

**The statue may not have been able to melt his eyeballs, but the blow to his skull hurt. It wasn't enough to stop him however. He grabbed the man by the arms, shaking him violently, while the statue-bludgeon fell to the floor. Toth then grabbed the human by his shirt front with one hand, while with the other he retrieved his own dropped staff. He then hefted Giles so that the Watcher's feet dangled inches above the floor "That wasn't very nice," Toth informed him. He had allowed an inflection of menace to color his voice, "I'm not here to fight an old man with bad eyesight." Toth turned his head toward the back of the shop. He could see a door leading to a back area. "Slayer," he called out, "Come out and face your destined defeat at the hands of the mighty Toth of the Tothric Clan! Hurry now or you'll find your Watcher without his head attached!"**

**The human struggled from his position in Toth's hard grip, when Toth noticed he was trying to get some sort of point across to him. Toth settled the man on the floor.**

"**S-she's not here, you oaf," the human, rather bravely, confronted him. "The Slayer isn't here right now."**

"**I find that hard to believe," Toth replied to him. It was strange that the warrior-girl had not yet come to her teacher's aid, however. "You are the Watcher; her place is at your side."**

"**Y-yes, well, Buffy tends to like to do things her, uh, her own way, as it were."**

"**Oh." Toth stood, still gripping the human, not exactly sure what to do at this point. He'd so expected the Slayer to be in this place with the mentor, that he was dumbstruck as to how to proceed now that she wasn't here to fight. "Well…uh, um, could you just tell her that Toth readies himself to, uh, to engage in heroic battle with her, then? Uhm…I'll, ah, find her later, I guess."**

**Toth casually threw the human into a wall of shelves behind the counter of his shop. After checking that the Watcher wasn't going to try to launch himself into an attack, Toth stomped his way out of the store. He was disappointed that the Slayer was not there, but he would allow her to seek him out now. Knowing that the Watcher would assign her to kill his attacker, he was sure he would not have long to wait.**

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**Giles shakily drew himself to his feet, watching the demon stalk out of his door. Hurrying as best he could, Giles also went to the door and threw its rather pathetic looking lock. He'd have to remind Xander about reinforcing the doors in this place. **

**Making his way back to the counter, Giles grabbed the phone and dialed Buffy's number. Although, he expected her to be home, he was still slightly annoyed that she was. After all, with another demon running around, she should have been out patrolling already. Giles was trying to be lenient however, with Joyce's rash of headaches. And Buffy was studying very hard on her meditative exercises and Slayer lore. Giles was trying to remember that she only had so many hours in a day and she still had to study for her college courses and of course, spend 'personal time' with her friends. Sometimes it was just that the Watcher training he'd received would jump to the forefront and he'd hear Quinton's voice admonishing him for not keeping his Slayer on a shorter leash.**

"**Oh, Buffy, good, you're home. This is Giles."**

"**Yeah, I kinda recognized your voice. You know, seeing you nearly everyday for the past five years and all."**

"**Quite right," Giles couldn't stop his smile, despite the circumstances. "Well, I need you to come to the Magic Box right away." Giles could hear her sigh over the phone, but ignored it. "I'm afraid I've had a most disturbing encounter with a new demon. One I've not seen before who, naturally, is looking for the Slayer."**

"**Are you alright?" Buffy's voice had taken on an edge of worry. **

"**Oh, yes, quite. A bit bruised, but it's nothing. When can you be here? We'll need to research."**

"**I'm on my way, and Giles? Lock the shop door."**

**As Buffy hung up, Giles sighed. Anya was never going to let this slip by without an 'I told you, so'.**

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End Ch 3


	4. Another Sunnydale Evening

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 4 – Another Sunnydale Evening

**Buffy had just hung up the phone with Giles, when she turned to see Willow's worried face. The two of them had been having a study-buddy date, which now, as was typical for Sunnydale, was ruined. **

"**Sorry, Will. Duty calls and we've got a research date at the Magic Shop, er, Box, now."**

"**Is Giles okay? What happened?"**

"**He's fine. Just another demon who wants to get his ass beat by the Slayer is in town. We'll find out the details and have a bored-filled evening of musty book reading when we get there." **

**Buffy grabbed her coat, while Willow gathered up her things. Upstairs, Dawn was listening to some sort of bubble-gum pop that set Buffy's teeth on edge. She just didn't understand how teens listened to the crap they did these days. She sighed as she went upstairs to find Joyce.**

**After a quick knock on her mother's bedroom door, she peaked inside. Joyce was reading an art book, probably homework for the gallery. **

"**Hey mom," Buffy said cheerily. It was important to her that she not make her mother worry. She was under more than enough stress as was and Buffy hated to think she might bring on another of her mother's frequent 'tension headaches'. "Giles called with a 'Scooby-alert', so Wills and I are heading out."**

"**Okay, honey. Be careful, alright?"**

"**Always. You want I should take Dawn with me? Let you get some peace from that awful noise she calls music?"**

"**No, she's alright. I'm actually feeling pretty good this evening. I'm starting to feel a little neglectful with all the nap-taking lately. Maybe Dawn and I will have some chocolate chip cookies baked when you get back."**

"**Oh, yea me!" Buffy crossed the short distance to her mother's bed and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Don't wait up if you start to feel tired. I'm not sure how late I'll be and if it's after midnight and I'm near campus anyway, then I'll just crash at the dorm."**

"**Hmm-hmm," Joyce replied, a sly smile gracing her lips. "If it's too late, or if Riley is around?"**

**Joyce laughed and Buffy felt relieved, despite her mother's barbs. It was good to hear her laugh again. With all of the headaches lately, it had been too long. Buffy gave her mom a patented Buffy eye-roll and left the room, her mother going back to her latest interest in Icelandic metal sculptures.**

**As Buffy passed her sister's room, she briefly considered stopping in and telling Dawn not to bother their mother. It would have no doubt ended in another argument, however, so she simply walked by and headed downstairs.**

**Willow waited at the bottom of the steps as Buffy descended. She already had her coat on and their schoolbooks piled in her arms. **

"**Tara is on her way to the store," she directed up at Buffy. "I love this cell phone!" **

**Buffy smiled at Willow's excitement. Willow was waving her phone around, while also trying not to drop all of the books she was holding. Sheila Rosenburg had surprised Willow with the phones when she returned from her latest conference. She also had sent Xander an absolutely huge basket of flowers and fruit to make up for her and Ira not being there for Walter Harris' funeral. When she'd found out about the murder (though not the real facts, of course) she'd brow beaten Ira until he agreed to not only pay for Willow's phone, but that of her girlfriend as well. **

"**Oh, Xander! Can you give him a call while I try Riley?" **

"**Already did; he had that cell phone that work gave him and he had just met Anya near the store anyway. They're turning around and going back. From what I could hear in the background, sounds like Giles is getting a lecture from Anya as soon as she gets back to the store," Willow smirked.**

**Buffy gave a short laugh, but then Riley picked up his own cell. **

"**Hey gorgeous," Riley exclaimed on his end of the line.**

**Buffy quickly filled him in and Riley told her he was on his way. After giving her sympathy that her night to get caught up on school work had been blown, he told her he'd treat her to ice cream later. Buffy blew kisses at him; then she and Willow were out the door and on their way. **

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**By the time that Buffy and Willow arrived at the Magic Box, Willow noticed Tara's car sitting in a parking space on the street. She looked at Buffy with a quirked brow.**

"**If we're going to have study dates-slash-Scooby emergencies at your house, one of us so needs a car," she said to Buffy.**

"**I hear yah. Don't look at me though. I'm the one that got my mom's jeep smashed during that whole 'Band Candy' thingie, remember? Even though it technically wasn't my fault, mom still insists that she feels safer when I'm not on the road driving."**

**In the shop, the gang was already gathered around the large round table as well as on the fake leather sofa sitting, with major ugly, against one wall. Buffy gave Giles a critical eye, looking for signs of injury. Though he seemed fine on the surface, she noticed him moving stiffly as well as the broken shelves behind him and the counter.**

"**So…anything on the big bad, yet?" Buffy sent her gaze sweeping the room.**

"**I have a good description," Giles said, "we should be able to find whatever it was rather quickly."**

"**I'd just like to say," Anya stated, "that I told Giles to lock the door when I left. Several times in fact. **

**So, just for the record, 'I told you so'."**

**Giles gave her a short glare followed by a 'harumph'. "Yes, thank you. We are all aware of the 'lock the door' rule from now on. Perhaps we could focus on the books, now?"**

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End Ch 4


	5. An Interlude with Spike

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 5 – An Interlude with Spike

**Spike had left his crypt as soon as the sun would allow and had been roaming Sunnydale, bored. Unfortunately, Xander had already let him know the day before that it was going to be an 'Anya evening'. This left Spike with no one to grab a few beers and play pool with. He'd gone ahead to the Bronze anyway, hoping that Buffy and Riley might be there. If he was going to have a hope of making Buffy see him in a better light, he'd have to get in between the cardboard cut-out and her. He'd hoped to be able to start sowing the seeds of discontent by horning in on their night out. Alas, they hadn't shown and his quick circuit of the Sunnydale cemeteries had bagged him four vampires, now dusted. It hadn't, however, turned up Buffy.**

**So, Spike had been wandering aimlessly for the last twenty minutes looking for something to shag or kill, when he now found himself on Buffy's block. It hadn't been his intention to go to the Slayer's house, but apparently his subconscious had other plans. Spike grinned to himself: _With a little luck, Buffy will be tending the home front and the 'Great Olive Drab' will be off getting his head bashed in somewhere_, he thought with relish.**

**Spike headed up the steps and stopped before the Summers' front door. The scent of Buffy and Willow was heavy and told him the two girls had either just come in, or had just left. Either way, there'd be no alone time for him and the blonde, if Red was hanging about. On the other hand, at least Riley's scent wasn't there.**

**Spike rapped his knuckles on the door a few times, hard, and waited impatiently. He stubbed out his cigarette and tossed the butt over the porch and onto the front lawn.**

**As the front door swung open, Spike turned to be enveloped in a light, rose-scented fragrance that told him it would be Joyce standing in the doorway. Which, of course; it was.**

"**Spike! Come in," Joyce said.**

"**Hey, Joyce. I was actually lookin' for your oldest. She in?"**

"**Buffy's on her way to his store. Giles called with some sort of disaster that required the Slayer… again."**

"**Oh," Spike was obviously disappointed. He was about to leave and head to the Watcher's new deathtrap of a store (everyone knew the local magic store was where the evil things ended up, and they didn't bother leaving with the clerks alive); when he'd realized he had wanted to talk to Joyce about Buffy anyway. "How 'bout a cuppa, Joyce? I'd like to talk to you."**

**Joyce gave Spike a warm smile, "Hot chocolate with the little marshmallows?"**

"**You have the marshmallows?" Spike's grin made him look far younger than he was, even if you didn't take the whole 'vampire' thing into consideration.**

"**C'mon in the kitchen."**

**As Spike followed behind Joyce, he heard something that sounded like a dying cat coming from upstairs. He winced as he realized that it was some bimbo trying to hold on a note she obviously couldn't reach. "Ew, what in the devil is Dawn listening to up there?"**

**Joyce gave a half turn so she could role her eyes in solidarity with Spike. "Who knows? Another one of those young women who are pretty so someone decided they could sing, too."**

"**Yeah, well, they were wrong."**

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**Buffy sighed loudly as she placed another book on the table. "Giles, I thought you said this would be easy. This isn't easy. How could a glowy, veiny, creature be so hard to find?"**

"**At least I get to spend time with a roomful of beautiful women," Riley said. That earned him a few appreciative smiles, one of which he was happy to find, was from his girlfriend.**

"**I second the thought," Xander added, "but it would be better if this was a naked mud wrestling meeting instead. Hey!" Xander snapped his fingers in mock excitement.**

"**Don't even think about it!" Willow playfully admonished him.**

"**Besides," Anya said, "Buffy would cheat with that whole Slayer strength, making it impossible for anyone else to win."**

"**That really wasn't going to be an issue," Buffy rolled her eyes. She looked at the pile of books before them, and chose a pretty and slim red one. The title was in some alphabet she didn't recognize, but she wouldn't let that stop her. She'd just look at the pictures if she couldn't read it. Unfortunately, Giles had seen her choice and wasn't about to let her get away with it.**

"**Buffy," Giles said distractedly, "that one's written in ancient Aramaic. Try the green one with the pitchfork on it instead."**

**Buffy complied, but with a small pout. The green, pitchforky book was at least four times as thick as the pretty red one she'd just had in her hands. As Buffy began the long task of skimming through another boring tome, a coffee cup appeared in front of her. _A gift from the gods_, she thought, _or from a witch._**

**Tara stood beside Buffy for a moment, a warm grin on her face, "You looked like you could use a caffeine boost."**

"**Thanks, Tara." Buffy turned toward Willow seated on the ugly sofa, "You've got to keep her, Will. She's, like, the bestest girlfriend, ever."**

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"**Here you go, William." Joyce placed a steaming mug of chocolate before Spike. Just as he loved it, it was full of marshmallows. In fact, they were tumbling out of the mug and onto the counter. **

"**So, what is it you needed to talk about," Joyce asked, perplexed.**

"**Well, uh," Spike started. He wasn't exactly sure how he wanted to broach the topic, so dived right in. "It's like this, Joyce. I've been working side by side with the Slayer now for awhile. And, looking at things, I figured that we have a lot in common, y'know? Fighting that evil, saving lives, all that hero's walk sorta. So I was thinking, her and I should, uh, date or whatnot, yeah?"**

**Spike glanced up from the steam coming from the mug to see a look of utter disbelief on Joyce's face. "What?" He asked her, "Me and the Slayer would be a natural fit, except for that part where she currently treats me like crap. I can change that though, if she'd just give me a chance."**

**Joyce turned to the kettle on the stove. Moving with deliberate slowness, she placed a tea bag in a mug and added the hot water. As the bag steeped, she leaned back against the sink and crossed her arms. "Have you spoken to Buffy about any of this?"**

"**Not yet. I gotta get the commando outta the way, first. I mean, it's hard for her to see how perfect I am for her with Riley always flashing those muscled arms in her direction, yeah?"**

"**Spike. That's sort of my point, actually. Buffy has a boyfriend. One who treats her very well and with the respect and care that she deserves."**

"**He's a temporary place holder. There's no way that's going to last."**

"**Well, I think that is between the two of them."**

"**She's just goin' to break his 'Mr. All-American' heart. He doesn't have what she needs."**

"**And what do you think my daughter needs?" Although Spike appeared oblivious of the fact, Joyce was starting to go from stunned to angry.**

"**She needs that touch of tough-guy. That fire and darkness. That's what makes her Slayer's blood pump. Riley will never have that."**

"**Riley is a decent, caring man. Buffy's already done the bad boy thing with horrible results. She needs someone…normal."**

**Spike watched as Joyce pulled out a prescription bottle from a cupboard. Quickly popping two capsules, she pulled the bag from her tea and tossed it into the garbage can a few feet away. She took two long drinks of the hot and cinnamony-smelling brew, before she turned back toward him.**

"**You alright, Joyce?"**

"**I'm fine." Spike noticed for the first time how tense Joyce was. Her body language and the way her eyes were narrowed. Somehow, he'd upset her, though he didn't know how or why.**

"**Spike, I've come to like you very much. You're a sweet boy, and you've always been very decent to me and Dawn. But you're also a vampire. One that has tried to kill Buffy in the past, numerous times."**

"**That's not me anymore! I've changed since I got this chip in my head."**

"**Maybe, Spike. Or maybe you only think you have."**

"**I have, Joyce. I promise, I really have. I'm just asking for a shot at showing Buffy that I can be good for her. Will you talk to her for me? Tell her to ditch that block of wood and give me the chance to prove that I can be everything she needs?"**

"**No," Joyce said. Her demeanor suddenly completely different from when they'd come into the kitchen. "I'm sorry, William, but you can't be good for my daughter. I want you to stop pursuing this right now."**

**Spike stood up from his stool, stunned. This wasn't the way he had played this out in his head for the past several weeks. "I don't understand." **

"**Riley is the best thing that's happened for Buffy. I don't want her getting caught up in another violent heartbreak like happened the last time she fell for a mon-; when she fell for a vampire."**

"**I'm not Peaches! I'm not about to try to send us all to Hell!" Spike was angry now and he was barely aware that he'd started yelling.**

**Joyce stood stock still. According to Buffy, Spike wasn't able to hurt any of them as long as the chip was still working. In addition, even before he was caught by the commandos, he'd never given her any reason to suspect she might be in danger. On the other hand, Joyce had never seen him angry before, and she suddenly realized he was in fact one of the monsters that Buffy killed almost nightly.**

**Spike stood staring at Joyce across the kitchen island. Her pheromones were suddenly giving off a scent of fear that had Spike confused. She was staring at him wide eyed and pale. Guilt cut through Spike's haze of hurt and his angered state of mind. He took a deep breath in an unconscious display of trying to gain control over his emotions.**

"**You don't need to be afraid of me Joyce. Not ever. I would never hurt you or Dawn or Buffy. Not any of them. Not now. I wish you could see that I'm not the monster I used to be."**

"**You'd be more convincing if you didn't look like that," Joyce said, though Spike noted that she was relaxing again. As relief spread through Spike that Joyce was becoming relieved, her last words echoed in his mind.**

**Spike realized that during his outburst he'd sprung into his natural visage. _No wonder Joyce can't see me as a man; the right man, for her daughter_. How could she when he was so ready to spring into fang-mode?**

"**Sorry," he said with sincerity as his human face slid back into view. He never wanted Joyce to be afraid of him. And now, he'd almost terrorized her by flying into a patented Spike rage. In fact, he was still ready to smash something. She'd roused his not-so-inner demon by rejecting him, via rejecting his bid for her approval to court Buffy, and a large part of him wanted to lash out at her for it.**

"**I know, William. But this is only a small part of why I don't want you near Buffy. Not in a romantic sense, at any rate. It doesn't matter that you can't hit her. There are a lot of ways to hurt someone's heart and spirit that has nothing to do with violence. I know you think you may have these feelings, Spike. I understand that. But, it doesn't change what you are, what your natural tendencies are. Buffy is happy right now, and Riley is a large part of that. If you really did care for her, you'd be happy for her and stop trying to muddle with her relationships: right now."**

"**I love her. I can't just stand by while she's with someone else."**

"**Then maybe you're only obsessed with controlling her. Think about it: you can't dominate her as her enemy, maybe that need is being twisted into something else, now."**

"**No! No, this is real. I know it!" Spike slammed a fist onto the kitchen island. Spinning on his heel he marched to the kitchen door and stomped out into the night.**

**Joyce followed to the door, sighing as she pulled the door closed and locked it tight. 'Oh, my god!' she heard from behind her. She spun on her own heel, to see Dawn standing in the kitchen doorway.**

"**Spike is in love with Buffy!"**

"**I don't think so, honey," Joyce replied softly, meditatively, "but I don't think he's capable of realizing it yet."**

"**What are we going to do?" Dawn asked, "I mean, do we tell her?"**

**Joyce sighed again. "For right now, I think we should keep this to ourselves. Let's give Spike a few days to think about what I've said and see if he backs off, okay?"**

"**Sure, mom. But, like, wow! This is going to be hard not to spill!"**

**Joyce walked across the kitchen and placed an arm around her younger daughter's shoulders. "What say we make ourselves some cookies, huh? I'm suddenly in the need for some chocolate chips."**

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End Ch 5


	6. Spike, Sex and Harmony

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 6 – Spike, Sex and Harmony

**Spike stomped his way through Sunnydale, his heavy black boots pounding on the sidewalks and asphalt of the town's streets. The streets were still relatively busy and Spike glanced around the crowds on the sidewalks around him. _So many meals, and I can't take a single damned bite of any of it, _he thought darkly. He was in a foul mood, angry at Joyce Summers over her refusal to see him as a potential mate for her daughter. Angry at Buffy for making him feel this way, while she wasted all of her energies on that bastard ex-soldier. And he was angry at himself, too. For being love's bitch, time after time. And for not learning his lesson even now. Of all of the things that William could have left rattling in his skull, why it had to be his propensity to fall head over heels for women who would only end up frustrating him continued to vex him. **

**Spike considered going to a bar, but not the Bronze. He didn't want to deal with any of the do-gooders right now. He couldn't stand the thought of Willy's where the little rat would no doubt feel like chatting away about whatever rumors he'd heard lately from the 'underground'. And that place he'd met that Blayne chap in; never! It was full to the brink with pretty, petty, plastic people.**

_**What this place really needs, is a biker club. The kinda place where blokes could get sloshed, beat each other till no one could stand, then come back the next night and do it all again.**_

**Spike stood indecisive for a few moments on a corner, considering his options. He glanced up at the central church tower in town, noting its large clock. _Nine-thirty? Too damn early to call it a night, but what else am I gonna do? Could go and vandalize a bit?_**

**Spike shook his head. He didn't know what he wanted to do, other than kill a few people and since that was off the table for the time being; he decided to mope back to the crypt. He knew for a fact he still had a bottle and a half of Jack Daniels sitting on the third rate dresser in the catacombs where he'd made an apartment of sorts. He would go home and drown this anger toward the Summers bitches. **

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**Harmony Kendall, former Cordette, now vampire paced back and forth nervously within the crypt that she knew for a fact that Spikey inhabited these days. She was extremely nervous, and as she paced, she kept her ears focused for any signs of furtive footsteps approaching the iron entranceway. She was scared to undeath that the Slayer would find her before Spike returned. It was obvious she needed someone far more devious than she in order to combat her Arch-Nemesis. **

**As heavy foot falls approached the door of Spike's place, Harmony dashed behind one of the two stone sarcophagi that took up a large portion of the available space. She tried to keep the dust from getting all over her stylish pantsuit, and rubbed her fingers together in distaste when she'd accidentally ran her hands along the cold stonework. **

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**Spike pushed open the door of his crypt, slamming it shut behind him heavily. As he proceeded toward the underground living space, and his booze, he stopped short; frozen in mid-step. He sensed something else was in his crypt, a vampiric presence not his own, and he was looking forward to the upcoming fight.**

**That was until Harmony, the stupid bint, come rushing from behind one of the huge stone slabs in the room. She nearly flew into Spike's arms, her fingers grabbing hold of bunches of his T-shirt, obviously in a state of great distress. Spike simply rolled his eyes in irritation and shrugged off her clinging.**

"**Oh, Spikey-bear, you've got to help me! That crazy bitch won't stop until I'm nothing but a dust bunny!"**

"**Whoa, there, luv. Which 'bitch' would this be?"**

"**Uh, duh!" Harmony took a step back from Spike, a look of surprise on her face. "Which bitch would I be bitching about? I mean, I would just kill any other bitch that was being bitchy to me, you know?"**

"**Ah, you've got Buffy riled, then?"**

"**Oh, Spike! Haven't you heard? That whole kidnapping the Slayer's sister thing totally didn't turn out. And my so called minions? Totally turned on me, the traitors! I mean, I thought sires were supposed to have all these powers over the ones they bit? I mean if I had known they could turn on you I would have left Mort dead, the big jerk-face. I wish Cordelia were here. She'd know how to make minions fall into line. Well, anyway, since the master plan failed, I've been hiding out."**

"**And now you've come to Spike for protection, is that it?"**

"**Well, more for information. I mean, you're chummy with Xander these days from what I hear. You can help keep me informed of Buffy's plans to find me. I mean, like, you're not much good for protection. I mean, with you not being able to hit humans, and all."**

"**Right. Well, thanks for stopping by," Spike said. As he grabbed Harmony by the upper arm and turned her toward the door, his face was a grimace of anger. Already pissed off tonight, the last thing he'd needed was to be reminded of his 'chipped' status by someone as useless as this cow.**

"**Oh, Spike! Please! Please, let me stay! I'll do anything you want, honest! I just need a chance to catch my breath… or not really a breath obviously, 'cause, you know, we're dead, and, oh, never mind that right now! I need a place to hide! I told you, Buffy won't stop until she gets me. Oh, god, I knew I shouldn't have tried to take her on with only four minions! Now, I'm like, her arch-nemesis and I don't even have Cyrus left to help me!"**

**Spike stopped, releasing Harmony's arm and turning to face her. The night had just offered a fun distraction. "Her arch-nemesis, eh? Wow, you're really in a load of trouble, now. That Slayer? She's just a single-minded killing machine when someone becomes her number one foe. You know what I'm saying?" Spike was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the look of utter horror on Harmony's face. "Oh, yeah, you've really stepped in it."**

"**What am I going to do? I have to get out of this town!"**

"**No! Now, let's just think a minute," Spike said, his mind racing to come up with a reason to prolong this game, "you don't want to take off. She'll just hunt you down."**

"**Well, I can't just stay here! She'll find me in no time."**

"**Maybe not. Maybe this is the best place for you to hide out, 'cause of the, uh, uh, the Hellmouth! Yes, that's it. It's the Hellmouth, you see."**

"**Oh, blondie-bear, I don't know what you're talking about."**

"**Well, see, if you leave, the witches will just track you with a spell. That's what they do everyday for the Slayer, after all. But you stay here and the Hellmouth acts to mask you from their magic locator whammies." Spike congratulated himself on his quick thinking, then pasted a look of concern on his face for Harmony's benefit.**

"**Really? The Hellmouth can keep them from finding me?"**

"**Oh, absolutely! Tell you what; I'll help you out. You just stay away from the Slayer's mates and her family and I'll keep you up to date on her plans to track you down. I'll help you stay a step ahead of her."**

"**Oh, Spikey, thank you! Now, I'm just gonna go grab a few things, then I'll be ready to move in."**

"**Uh, what?" It was suddenly Spike's turn to not know what the hell Harmony was talking about. "Move in? I don't recall inviting you to move in, luv."**

"**Oh, but Spike, I've got nowhere else to hide out. Well, except the sewer, but that's just so eww. Plus, it'll stain my clothes."**

"**Well, tough break, that. But, sorry, can't help you."**

"**Please, Spikey. You'll barely know I'm here. Plus, I'd just be so grateful to you!"**

"**Oh, yeah? Just how grateful, then?" Spike had allowed his face to morph and now stood openly leering hard at Harmony. He stared quite intently at her breasts, figuring anything more subtle and the cow wouldn't get the point.**

"**Oh! You mean would I do you?" Harmony shrugged her shoulders, allowing her own face to morph. As she gazed quite intently at Spike's crotch, she shrugged again, "Well, yeah."**

**As Spike move toward Harmony, grabbing her by the pink leather jacket she wore, she suddenly yelled at him. "Wait! Don't mess up my outfit. Let me get out of these clothes and then you can ravage me, you great big, bad animal, you."**

**Spike's face slipped back into his William visage as he shrugged his own thin shoulders. "Yeah, okay." He took Harmony by the elbow and led her toward the queen bed waiting for them below.**

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**Buffy was sitting with an ugly brown folder of loose-leaf parchments in her hands. The parchments were flaky and they were bothering her nose with paper dust and she was getting cranky. They'd been at this for over two hours now, and still no signs of whatever it was that was looking to kick her ass. She kind of wished 'Mr. Whatever' would bust through the door right now and save her from having to look up anything more. After all, her job was supposed to be the vanquishing of the bad guy, not research. If she had wanted to study, she could have stayed home and focused on school.**

"**Hey, I think I got it," Anya exclaimed suddenly, making Buffy jump. She realized the parchment she'd been supposed to be skimming had become a blur as she had started to doze a little.**

**Anya got up from her chair and handed an oversize (but awfully thin, Buffy noted) book to Giles, her slim finger jabbing at something on one of the pages. "Look here, 'Tothric Clan', and yes, I do see some veiny skin in this drawing."**

"**Well done. This is exactly what barged in here this evening."**

"**So? What've we got, Giles?" Buffy stood up and stretched her muscles, getting herself limbered up. "I mean, what do I have to worry about: poisons? Spiked feet? Maybe heat vision?"**

**Giles quickly scanned through the text describing the drawing on the page. "Well, it appears they are only somewhat stronger than human…no obvious, uh, horns, or claws. Hmmm…it says they've been known to cast spells, but it's all ritual-based." He glanced at his Slayer, "It doesn't look like you'll need to worry about lightning blasts, or psychokinetics or anything unpleasant. Hmmm…it unfortunately doesn't mention where we're most likely to find the creature, however. Nor anything that would explain what it's doing in Sunnydale or why it, specifically, wants to target the Slayer."**

"**It's probably just an ego thing," Xander offered the room. "It would probably be a huge feather in whatever the demons use as a hat to beat the Slayer."**

"**Everyone always wants to pick fights to feel macho," Buffy said. She smiled a vicious looking grin, "You'd think they'd get it by now that I don't lose."**

"**So," Willow asked, "how do we find it? Oh! Tara and I could do that demon locator spell!"**

"**We've tried that before," Tara reminded her girlfriend, trying to still the tremor in her voice, "remember? It didn't work out."**

"**Well, if at first you don't succeed, and all that," Willow smiled.**

"**Actually, I think I have an idea," Giles supplied. "I now recall that this Toth fellow had a most pungent and unpleasant odor."**

"**Ew! Did it smell like shi-, uh, like sewer?"**

**Giles wrinkled his nose, "Thankfully, Buffy, it only smelled like garbage. Old garbage, in point of fact."**

"**Oh, swell," Riley said. "Instead of a trip to the sewers, it's just a jaunt through the city dump, then?"**

"**Yes, well," Giles continued, "it does state that their preferred meal is rotted scraps of meat."**

"**Oh," Buffy added, her nose wrinkling with disgust, "that's charming."**

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End Ch 6


	7. The Battle of the Dump

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 7 – The Battle of the Dump

**Harmony lay on the queen sized mattress that her blondie-bear had somehow managed to procure and looked up at the rock ceiling above her head. The candles that were lit around the room cast shifting patterns of light on the rock face and made her feel secluded and safe. She turned her head slightly and let her gaze take in her pookie's pale form, the best bits covered right now by a thin white sheet. Harmony smiled to herself as her eyes took in the bite barks she'd left on his collar bone and the scratches along his chest. If there was one great thing about being a vampire, it was the phenomenal sex. You could just tear into each other and in a few hours, everything was healed. And Spike, well, he was just a barbarian in the sack. She could still feel ghost-sensations of his hands squeezing her breasts hard enough to cause her to yell in pain…and ecstasy. **

"**Spikey," she whispered to her dark knight, "sweetie-poo?"**

**Harmony sighed as Spike didn't respond. She slipped from the bed, limping and grimacing at the aches that traveled wonderfully across her muscles. _It was sort of a shame that human Harmony Kendall had croaked a virgin_, she thought at times like this. _If only she'd known what she'd be missing by waiting._ Harmony grabbed the whiskey bottle from the top of the dresser and took a large slug, sputtering with an 'ew' face as it burned its way down to her stomach. She quickly replaced the bottle, how her little blondie-prince could drink that gross crap was a mystery to her.**

**Harmony glided back to the bed and resumed her place under the thin sheet, pushing her body closer to Spike. "Sweet-bear? C'mon, Spikey, wakey wakey. Please?" **

**When this failed to have the desired effect, Harmony reached out and grabbed Spike's pale nipple, giving it a wicked twist.**

"**Huh! What?" Spike sat up looking dazed and confused. Harmony found it all so adorable that she immediately planted her lips against his mouth, forcing her now extended fangs into his bottom lip.**

**Pulling back from her lover, she resumed her human mask. "Oh, Spikey, you're just so cutey-cute when you first wake up."**

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**Spike awoke to the irritating sound of Harm's voice piercing his brain like a hot dagger. As she prattled on, Spike reached down to the floor beside his bed and grabbed his cigarettes from the pocket of his jeans. Lighting and drawing a quick hit of nicotine made him feel a little more civil and less like he was about to drive a stake through the bint's heart.**

"**Spikey! Are you listening to anything I'm saying?" He heard frustration in Harmony's voice. Not that he cared what the cow was feeling at any particular moment, of course. "I asked you about where this relationship is going?"**

"**What 'relationship'? Look Harm, you need a place to stay, I need something to shag, end of story."**

"**Oh, Spike! I don't know why I let you treat me like this." Harmony puckered her lips into a pout that Spike found nearly irresistible. He was about to lean in and give her a kiss that would have her spontaneously combusting, when she'd ruined the entire effect by continuing to talk. "If you think I'm just some slut you can use up, then you have another think coming! You can't just use people, or um, demons… well at least not fellow vampires this way! Unless, you know, they're a minion or something. Which, I'm not!"**

**During her tirade, Spike had crawled out from under the sheets and was quickly getting dressed. The last thing he needed was to listen to one of Harmony's self-delusional rants regarding what this was. Even when they'd been screwing before, she'd always wanted to make it some sort of love affair, no matter how many times he threw it in her face that she was just a body to bang. If she'd had any sense at all, she'd have realized that she was nothing like his type…but, he figured, sense and Harmony probably didn't come within a continent's length of each other.**

"**Are you going out," she whined at him.**

"**Just for a bit." And to forestall another emotional outburst, he added, "If you're going to be here awhile, I should nip you some furniture and whatnot, yeah? I'll just stroll over to the dump; see if I can find something for you to keep your clothes in and whatnot."**

"**Ohhhh," Harmony gushed, her eyes sparkling, "you are just the most romantic demon in the world."**

"**Uh, yeah. That's me alright," Spike said, his voice completely missing any trace of sincerity. Harmony, of course, failed to pick up on this.**

"**You great, big bad, you. I'll tidy up while you're gone. Maybe I'll run out and get some flowers to cheer the place up."**

"**Yeah, sure. You do that." Spike pulled on his black duster and swept out of the crypt and into the night.**

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**It was only minutes later that Spike found himself rubbish picking in the Sunnydale garbage collection site. Struggling with a shopping cart that had a bad wheel, Spike strolled through mounds of human-generated junk, looking for anything that could be salvageable. It wasn't one of his favorite things in the world to do, but it sure as hell beat listening to Harmony's witless prattle. He was starting to re-think the brilliant 'keep Harmony here and play games with her' plan. He now thought he probably should have been telling her to run as fast and as far as she could and never return.**

**Spike froze as he heard voices approaching the waste disposal's entrance. He sighed when he heard the Scoobies stomping around on the other side of a mound of garbage to his right. _Great_, he thought, _that's exactly what I wanted to deal with tonight._ **

**His mood brightened a little bit, or maybe more than a little, when he heard Xander's voice ring out into the night, "Oh, man! I just stepped in something smooshy!"**

**As the gang stopped and looked over at Xander standing on the left of the group, Riley Finn took a moment to look at the trash stacked around him. It seemed endless and he frowned as his eyes began to pick out cardboard boxes, glass bottles, paper and even old motor oil cans. **

"**Would you look at this," he complained. "This is not recycling, people! I mean everyone says they're doing it, but they're not."**

"**Could we please focus on the Watcher-bashing, Slayer-stalking demon please," Buffy commented, irritation clearly in her voice now. It always felt like she was ready to crawl out of her skin when she was getting ready for a battle. She knew it sometimes made her short tempered with those around her, but sometimes her friends could have their attention on the wrong stuff in these situations. Like Xander and the smooshy stuff under his shoe. She expected more out of Riley, being a soldier and everything.**

**Riley for his part was irritated as well. At Buffy. She seemed to have no problem with everyone else's pointless banter, but boy, have him say anything and she was suddenly prickly. Riley had a retort on his tongue, but chose to withhold the comment. Now wasn't the time to start a silly argument. After all, Buffy was right about watching out for the demon that could be anywhere behind one of these huge trash mounds.**

**As the group walked deeper into the dumping ground, the smell became nausea-inducing. Giles pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and covered his mouth and nose. In front of him and to the right, Tara was muttering something in Latin. Seconds later, the scent of lavender drifted over the small group, but it was quickly replaced again by the lingering scent of rotted food.**

"**Sorry," she shrugged in apology, "I tried."**

"**Well, well, look at here. The gang's all here," Spike said as he rounded a mound of trash about nine feet high.**

"**Spike," Riley said, an unpleasant threat clear in only a word.**

**Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and stood with a foot tapping the ground. "Spike, what are you doing out here? And please tell me it's not something evil, because I really don't have time to stake you tonight."**

"**Ease off, Slayer. I'm just here shopping."**

"**Shopping?" Buffy's entire body language bespoke of her skepticism.**

"**Yeah. What of it? Look," Spike said belligerently, "it's not like I can apply for credit at the local 'Rent-to-Own' now is it?"**

"**Geez, Spike," Xander said, stepping toward the vampire. "If you need furniture, I'd be glad to advance you some money. We could go to the thrift shop, pick out a few tables or whatever you're looking for."**

"**Xander!" Anya now rushed forward to join her boyfriend, "You can't just go giving away money to a vampire! They never pay you back. Believe me, I know."**

"**Anya," Xander started, but was interrupted by Spike, himself.**

"**It's alright, Xan. Appreciate the thought, but there's plenty of good stuff out here if you just look for it. You humans…you're always throwing out perfectly good items every time something new and shiny comes along."**

"**That was my point not five minutes ago," Riley added, "no one is recycling."**

"**Yeah," Spike said before realizing that he was agreeing with the block of non-personality.**

**From behind them, Buffy could be heard clearing her throat loudly. "Can we get back to the whole 'stopping the latest demon' thing, please? I still have two chapters to read before class tomorrow."**

"**Buffy's quite right," Giles said, polishing his glasses. "We, uh, should keep looking. Let's, uh, let's everyone move along, alright?"**

**Just as the group began walking again, now including Spike, Toth jumped out from behind another pile of trash directly behind Buffy.**

**Even as everyone jumped and Willow shouted a warning to Buffy, Toth swung his heavy staff, striking Buffy in the center of her back and sending her flying a dozen yards through the air. Everyone could hear the breath explode out of her as she hit the ground hard.**

"**Buffy!" Both Spike and Riley yelled out the Slayer's name, taking off at a run toward the attacking demon. At the same time, Xander and Giles ran toward the Slayer. Dropping to their knees beside Buffy, she began to sit up, dazed.**

"**Wow," she said to her companions, "that was one hell of a hit. Especially, for someone who's 'not much stronger than a human being'." **

**Giles took note of Buffy's glare, "Well, uh, I, uh, w-would say that his strength is coming from his staff. So, really he isn't much stronger than a, uh, man."**

**Buffy rolled her eyes and then looked to see what Toth was doing as she allowed herself to be helped to her feet. Fortunately Toth was already being kept busy.**

**As Riley engaged Toth with his extended baton, Spike tried to jump on the monster's back. As Buffy watched the struggle and shook off a bout of wooziness, Toth flipped Spike over its shoulder and slammed the vampire right into Riley, knocking both of them off their feet.**

**Buffy began to run to re-engage the demon, leaving Giles to fiddle with his mini-crossbow to set up a shot. Xander retrieved his ax from the ground where he'd dropped it next to Buffy and looked for his chance.**

**As Buffy rushed across the fetid field of debris, she saw Willow raise her left hand, her right tightly clutching Tara. Tara's eyes were closed and Buffy could see her lips moving. Buffy slowed her approach so as not to get in the way of whatever mojo was about to go rushing toward Toth. **

**From Willow outstretched arm, a flurry of light particles coalesced, condensing into a bolt of electricity whose white center was surrounded by blue-black flashes of light. The bolt struck Toth square in the chest, surrounding him and taking on a net-like appearance as it tried to restrain his limbs. As Buffy watched, the staff Toth carried began glowing a brilliant orange, seemingly sucking in and trapping the energies the two witches had sent at him. He then raised the staff in their direction.**

**Buffy yelled at the witches to get down, but she knew she was already too late. The staff discharged the same energy it had collected and before Willow and Tara could move, they found themselves held in place by their own spell. _Thank god they didn't shoot a fire ball! I have to get that damned staff away from him!_**

**Buffy resumed her run at Toth, jumping him in a tackle move. Just as Buffy's launched form was about to crash into the demon, he quickly side stepped, sending Buffy careening into a mountain of garbage bags. These bags immediately broke open on the Slayer's impact, covering her in weeks old food, and something even more horrible. _Oh, god! Is that diapers, _she thought in a panic.**

**Anya, seeing how poorly the direct assault thing was going looked desperately around her for a way to help. Spying a large iron bar, she wrestled it from its pile one handed, trying not to strain her already sore arm in its sling. _My coming here was really a smart idea, Anya_, she thought derisively. Hefting the iron bar, Anya closed the distance between her and Toth. As she spied Xander being punched away from the demon, and Giles yelling for Riley and Spike to get out of his way so he could shoot, she wound up her arm. Letting the iron bar fly, she yelled out, 'Incoming!' **

**As the bar struck Toth on the shoulder, he whipped in her direction. His facial features clearly showed someone pissed, and Anya shrunk back from the creature's glare. Just as Anya was considering making a mad dash in the opposite direction, Riley punched Toth in the face, distracting the demon's anger. **

**Even as Buffy extricated herself from the garbage mound, Giles let loose his crossbow bolt. The pointed head of the missile stuck into Toth's thigh, eliciting a screech of pain. Riley followed up on Giles' assault, yelling at Spike to do something at the same time. Spike, for his part, was waiting to see if he was about to witness Riley taking another hit and wasn't in a hurry to help him out. As Riley grabbed Giles' bolt and jammed it further into Toth's thigh, Toth himself was grabbing Riley's shoulder. With a grunt of pain, he shoved Riley away from him and directly into Anya.**

**Anya's shoulder suddenly felt like her arm was being ripped off and she screamed out in sudden, shocking pain as the wrenched joint suffered further damage. Even as she hit the ground with Riley on top of her injured shoulder, she mercifully grayed out from the pain.**

"**Anya!" Xander started to run toward his girl. His breath was coming in harsh pants as he'd heard her scream of pain and now she wasn't moving as Riley was checking her over.**

**Giles had run up to Willow and Tara, who remained bound and vulnerable. They were both unable to move or react to anything that Toth might do; in fact, they weren't even able to move their lips to chant a counter-spell. **

**Buffy re-engaged with Toth again, this time from behind. As she struggled to get her arms around the demons neck so she could attempt crushing its throat, she clearly heard Spike egg Toth on to beat on the 'dumb, blond, mountain' some more. _Oh, his ass is so beat when I'm done here._**

**As Buffy and Toth struggled, with her on his back, he raised his staff in Spike's general direction. A blast of orange-energy shot across the short distance, barely giving Spike time to get out of the way. "Hey," Spike yelled at the glowy, veiny, guy, "I was being supportive, here, you wanker!"**

**As Buffy's arms began to close around the demon's head, he suddenly and violently flipped her forward. She flew over his head and landed hard on her tailbone, pain flying up her back. As she began to sit up, behind her Toth was pointing his staff in her direction. Another orange charge built up, and as Buffy got to her feet, grabbing her back she was turned away from him. **

**Xander was mere steps from Anya, when he changed course as he saw Toth aim his blaster-thingie at his best friend. "Buffy!" He shouted a warning that did no good. As Toth fired his beam directly toward the center of Buffy's back, Xander pushed her away.**

**The blast caught Xander in the ribcage under his left armpit. He felt himself leave the ground as the world slowed into a series of snapshots. Buffy in mid-spin toward him. The ground flying by below him. A mound of trash in front of his face, all of it a blur of images. And then suddenly the world was back to normal speed as Xander went flying through a low lying mound of trash. His body was wracked with pain and his eyes began seeing sparkles before them, obscuring his vision.**

**Spike, now standing again, saw Toth raise his staff. He saw Xander heroically place himself between the blast meant for the Slayer and that Slayer. And he saw Xander's form suddenly leave the ground and smash through a trash mound, tumbling somewhere on the other side of it out of view.**

**Spike instantly sprang into game face. His features twisted in outrage. He spun toward where Toth was standing, "Now, your ass is kicked!"**

**However, when Spike looked Toth was no longer there. Just that fast the demon had apparently taken off, leaving the Slayer and her gang to lick their wounds. Spike considered for a moment going after the bastard and killing him slowly, but Xander's well being was paramount at the moment and Spike took off toward where he saw Xander crash. Ahead of him, Buffy was also running toward the same trash pile.**

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**It was ten minutes later after Toth's sudden disappearance when everyone came back together as a group. Buffy and Spike walked one on each side of Xander, who was walking a little unsteadily, but unsupported. He appeared to be fine with the exception of some bruises and minor cuts. He'd described the intense pain of the blast, but it didn't seem to have any significant or lasting effects for which everyone was grateful.**

**Riley helped Anya to her feet, trying hard not to jostle her already abused arm. She was pale with fatigue and her eyes were watering with pain. He'd already apologized for slamming into her like he had, but like she herself had told him; it wasn't like he'd been in control of his flight path.**

**As Buffy, Spike and Xander returned, Giles was busy trying to find a way to de-spell Willow and Tara. Xander immediately rushed to Anya's side, taking her gently by her good hand and giving her a soft kiss on the side of her mouth. In the meantime, Buffy and Spike joined Giles in front of the two witches.**

"**Nice work, Red. Really ace spell-throwing, there," Spike said with a sardonic grin.**

"**Don't you have something else to do?" Buffy enquired.**

"**Nah. It's much more entertaining seeing the pose-able witches."**

"**Solvo habitum," Giles said in a forceful voice. Moments later, the witches once again were able to move. Both of them clung to each other, unsteady on their feet, but otherwise unharmed.**

"**And the fun is over," Spike said.**

"**Well, ah, I think that's all we can do for tonight. We'll have to try to find a more effective means of fighting this demon tomorrow."**

"**Gee, Giles, ya think?" Buffy frowned a little, "It's that staff of his. We need a way to either de-power it somehow, or a way to get it away from him. I tried, but he's got like this death-grip on it."**

"**Well, I, uh, suggest, we all get in for the evening. It's late, and Xander and Anya will need time to recover," Giles suggested.**

"**Can I help you get Xander home," Spike directed toward Buffy.**

"**We got it. Why don't you go back to your trash-picking." Buffy's tone made it clear she wasn't asking.**

**Spike's mouth turned into a grim line as he gritted his teeth, but he turned away. Buffy watched for a few moments as he stomped his way back toward his discarded shopping cart, and then started walking with the others toward the exit.**

"**My poor Anya," Xander said, "in pain…again…is there anything I can do?"**

"**I just want to go home," Anya complained. "Why am I always the one with the wrenched arms?"**

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End Ch 7


	8. Of the Weird

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 8 – Of the Weird

**Flashback **

**Xander Harris propelled himself across the open expanse between mounds, piles and hills of debris and trash. As he raced toward Anya, lying prone on the ground with Riley attending to her injuries he glanced to his right to check on the battle against Toth. Even before Buffy's danger became evident, he was already changing course to intercept her. Just as he reached his best friend and former unrequited flame, he shouted a warning. Toth had raised his energy staff and was taking direct aim at Buffy's back. With no conscious thought, Xander pushed Buffy out of the way, taking the hit meant for her. Pain tore through him from his side through his chest and then up into his head and down through his legs. He was lifted, thrashing, from the ground and sent head first into and through a mound of garbage. As Xander hit the opposite end of the trash heap he'd been flung through, his vision blurred and he blacked out, slamming the ground hard.**

**As Xander hit the opposite end of the trash heap he'd been flung through, his vision blurred and he blacked out. His trajectory was mysteriously altered in mid flight, and his unconscious body was flung to the far right. It slammed into another pile of trash bags, and the mountain of trash collapsed onto his prone form, hiding him from view.**

**As Xander hit the opposite end of the trash heap he'd been flung through, his vision blurred and he blacked out. His body in flight continued forward another two feet before hitting a mound of trash. As his unconscious form rolled down the debris hill and crumpled to the foot of the mound, an old appliance box fell from the top of it. Sliding down the trash heap's incline, it came to rest over Xander's still form, completely obscuring him from view.**

**Buffy headed around a mound of refuse and saw Xander lying on the ground. As she cried out his name in alarm, she saw him sit up and grab his head in his hands. As she reached him, Spike appeared from behind her, rushing to his other side.**

**"Xander! Are you hurt? How bad is it? Do you need an ambulance?" Buffy stopped her panicked stream of questions to pull a deep breath.**

**In the meantime, Spike had begun to run his hands over his friend's limbs. He grabbed one arm, then the other. Next were the legs until finally he ended at Xander's head. He gave a sigh of relief to feel no broken bones, and though he could scent blood, it wasn't overwhelming as would happen if there'd been a major injury, even if he was bleeding internally.**

**"He's okay. I can't detect any gross injuries," Spike said, looking at Buffy.**

**"Oh, thank god. Really Xander, what the hell were you thinking?"**

**"Ugh," Xander grimaced, "less yelling please. Toth was about to shoot you in the back, the coward."**

**"Thanks for the save, then. But, Xan, you gotta quit these heroics before you give me a nervous breakdown." Buffy stood up reaching down to lend a hand to Xander as he got to his feet. She saw Spike place his hands around Xander's waist and help to get him upright.**

**"I got him, now, Spike. Thanks."**

**The three retraced Buffy's path around the trash heap until the others were in view. Rejoining the crew to see how badly Anya was injured, Buffy took a long look around the area. **

**"The bad guy took off," Spike said, seeing her eyeing the area around them. "I didn't get to see which direction."**

**End Flashback**

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**Several hours passed quietly in the Sunnydale dump and the rats who'd been disturbed by all the commotion earlier in the evening had come back to root about for food. As they swarmed through the trash heaps, they remained away from a particular mound. They're primitive instincts forcing them to flee from it whenever they approached too closely.**

**The mound in question exploded outward in a burst of violence. Broken trash bags and their contents strew about the area, covering the ground in refuse. Hyena-Xander stood in the less than fresh air, breathing deeply. A look of disgust over where he found himself crossed his features. **

**As he dusted himself off as best he could, he tried to remember what had happened to him. The last thing he recalled with clarity was being in the hyena pen at the zoo. His pack was around him and they were hunting down Buffy in order to force her into the pack as his mate. He remembered seeing Willow with a knife to her throat and a man in weird face paint threatening to harm her. Xander was pretty sure that he was running toward the man to let loose of Willow. He was confused as to why he'd bother doing that. Willow was weak, she practically oozed 'victim', and Xander wasn't one to suffer weakness. One weak member could provide the Achilles Heel to an entire pack. Nevertheless, he clearly remembered his intentions were to save Willow from harm. And then…but there was no 'and then', his memories seemed to stop at rushing to save Willow. He wondered if the man had been a shaman. Certainly the face paint gave credence to the idea…if that was the case, perhaps he'd been bewitched by magic. That would explain his sudden teleportation to this place and his suddenly fractured memory. Hyena-Xander now remembered another battle, this one with Toth. That didn't make sense though because he was seeing people he didn't remember knowing, and yet he suddenly did: Riley Finn, Tara Maclay, Spike a.k.a. William the Bloody…how could he have memories of these people if he never met them before?**

**Xander looked around himself for his pack, but there was no sign of them. As he began to walk around, trying to locate the exit, he stopped himself short. Another bizarre thought had occurred to him. When he had looked for his pack, he hadn't been looking for Kyle and the others, which would have been natural. No, he'd been looking for Buffy, Giles and especially Spike. How had they become associated with 'pack', especially Buffy who'd already rejected his mating overtures with a desk? And Spike? Why did he get the feeling he knew the vampire so well? In fact, when did he even meet the vampire? Spike wasn't around during…during what?**

**Xander again began walking in a direction that he was certain would lead to the exit for the dump. He didn't know how he was aware of which direction the exit was, but the fact that this was the city dump wasn't a mystery. The smell would tell you that, even if you were blind.**

**As he walked between hills of solid waste another scent caught his attention. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply of the scents around himself. Blocking out the smell of garbage as best as he could; he focused his attention on the tantalizingly familiar scent that was close by. **

**Hyena-Xander located the source of the scent lying under a cardboard box. It was a huge box, now flat, like the type used to pack refrigerators. He reached down and pulled the box to the side in order to see what was producing the scent that niggled at the back of his mind.**

**Hyena-Xander froze, growling lowly with yips of nerves as his eyes fell on a very familiar face lying on the ground before him. Looking down at the, well, at himself, he noted the strong smell of human coming from the prone figure. That didn't make sense; Xander was Xander, so this unconscious 'person' had to be somebody else. However, scents rarely lied, and Hyena-Xander could clearly smell his own scent coming from the body splayed out on the ground. He growled again in puzzlement, his mind trying to work through how he could be seeing what he was seeing.**

**Hyena-Xander's mind began to wander, despite himself. He was running largely on instincts and once he'd ascertained that the thing on the ground wasn't a threat or a meal, it became increasingly difficult to maintain his attention on the mystery. When his stomach began to growl insistently, he loped off toward the exit. By the time he reached it and raced for a corpse of trees a short distance away to find squirrels or wild rabbits, the other Xander lying in the dump was forgotten.**

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**Spike stormed into his crypt in a foul mood. The cart he'd been pushing all the way here had a broken wheel (which made sense, since he'd found it in the dump) and had been vexing him all the way back. The shopping cart held a few items of luggage that weren't in too bad a shape. At least they would give Harmony someplace to keep her dainties off the floor and would reinforce that he'd left to do something for her. The cart also held something for himself: a torso of a mannequin complete with arms and a head. Add to that a blonde wig, and Spike had himself a plastic Buffy to take his frustrations out on. He'd actually been looking for a table that he could salvage, but after Buffy's bitchery earlier, he'd grabbed the mannequin as soon as he saw it. **

**Spike yelled for Harmony, but his vampire senses had already told him that she wasn't in the crypt. Since it was only two o'clock or so, she should remain out for a few more hours, if he was lucky.**

**Spike set up his faux-Buffy on one of the sarcophagi and placed the wig on its head. It didn't really look much like Buffy, but it would do since he couldn't actually hit the real one.**

**Spike placed his hands around the display model's throat and slowly squeezed until he could hear the hard plastic groaning against the pressure. "That's for being such a bitch, tonight."**

**Warming up, he yelled out into the crypt's space, "Xander's my friend too, you bossy cow! I had every right to help see him home!"**

**"Why don't you trash pick some more," Spike mocked Buffy's voice, "I have this. I'm 'Super-Dooper Woman'."**

**Spike paced furiously in front of the faux-Buffy, venting his anger. "Trash pick? Listen you stuck up bint, not all of us have a mother to pay all the bills and buy us shit, yeah? You'd be hard pressed to actually live on your own. It's not easy, you know! Yeah, I may have to get some stuff second hand, but that doesn't make you better than me!"**

**Spike stopped in front of the torso, glaring at it. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, you cow! I'm every bit as powerful as you are and when this chip is out, I'll show it to you! Oh, don't you give me that condescending laugh, you bitch!" **

**Bunching his fist, Spike lashed out at plastic-Buffy, knocking her head clear off her shoulders and across the room into a corner of the crypt. He sighed; then marched over to retrieve the now cracked head. Returning to the torso, he plopped the head back in place.**

**"Sorry 'bout that luv," Spike said, imagining Buffy in front of him, "you just get me so mad. Why can't you see me? Why can't Joyce? Why is it only Xander that can accept I've changed into someone new?"**

**Spike stared into the flat eyes of the mannequin's head. Before he could stop himself, he leaned in and kissed the hard plastic lips. He closed his eyes and felt Buffy's lips return his kiss for just a moment until reality came crashing in on his fantasy. Pulling back from his new toy, he grimaced and spit in disgust. It wasn't just this bizarre desire for the Slayer in general that had him so on edge. It was her complete lack of respect for him in particular that really burned.**

**Spike looked up at the ceiling. He thought at himself with disgust: _What are you doing? Fuzzy feelings for the Slayer, friendship with a 'Happy Meal', trying to do right with the Scoobies…what the hell is all this shit?_**

**Spike's hand went to his head, his fingers rubbing at his temple. _It's this damned chip. It's making me confused, making me weak and simpering. It's making me like them. _Spike swept his arm across the sarcophagus top, knocking faux-Buffy and her wig to the floor.**

**As Spike's mood darkened, Harmony came strolling in through the crypt door. _Now there's something that can make a bloke feel like a real demon_, Spike thought. Aloud he yelled at Harm, "Where the hell have you been!"**

**Harmony froze at the look of rage on her Spikey-Wikey's face, but quickly put on one of her phony smiles. It was the one she used often when Cordelia was going on at length about something that Harmony wasn't understanding; but wanted it to look like she did. Before she could explain about hanging out behind the Chinese take-out for dinner, however, Spike grabbed her roughly and threw her onto one of the filthy stone slabs.**

**"Hey! What the hell's wrong with you!" Harmony protested.**

**Spike leaped up onto the sarcophagus and straddled Harmony around her legs. As she began to yell for him to get off of her, he went into game face and savagely claimed her mouth. In seconds, Harmony was in game face herself and was ripping Spike's shirt to shreds with wicked sharp nails, painted a lovely shade of deep red.**

**As things became even more heated between them, and painful, they both flipped off of the stone lid and fell to the hard concrete floor. Neither one noticed.**

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End Ch 8


	9. The Duplicates

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 9 – The Duplicates

**The rain fell heavily as morning visited Sunnydale. In the local trash dump, bulldozers pushed debris into large piles. Other bulldozers loaded up large carrier trucks with more trash destined to end up in the 'Pine Acres Reclamation Center' landfill some 40-odd miles away.**

**Xander awoke to the sounds of heavy machinery in the background and the wet cold of rainwater falling down onto his face. He sat up, coughing harshly in the morning sun. He was freezing and his body hurt everywhere at once. Struggling to his feet, he looked around himself wondering how long he'd been out. He remembered in detail how he'd pushed Buffy out of the way of a blast only to find himself flung through the air. He wondered where the others were, and when exactly, it had turned to daylight.**

**Xander reached down to his pocket, but discovered the cell phone wasn't there. He began kicking garbage around, trying to find the small square device. His boss was going to throw a fit when he found out Xander had lost the phone. _I wonder if there was demon insurance on it…probably not_, he decided.**

**As Xander gave up the search for the cell phone and started his way to the exit, he wondered where the hell everyone else was at. It was disconcerting that they had left him behind which made him think the battle with Toth hadn't gone so well. Approaching the exit, he looked back through the rain, half convinced that he may see the bodies of his friends lying strewn about…broken…bloody. There were no bodies, however, alive or dead and nothing to indicate what had happened to them the night before.**

**Xander stumbled out of the path of a large truck coming into the dump with a load of garbage, its large tires splashing up water and mud to cover him from head to toe. _Great! Okay, first stop is the house to get cleaned up, then I'll call the Magic Box and find out what happened last night. Then, I'll have to go into the site and take my beating for losing the damned phone._**

**Xander began the walk back to the Harris residence. He was soaked through to his bones, or so it felt. He was also shivering with cold; and grit and mud ran down from his hair into his eyes as he walked. He was caught between outrage and anger at being left behind, and being terrified that something awful happened to the rest of them. It seemed to be the only explanation for why he had found himself half under cardboard, like a homeless person in L.A.**

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**Commando-Xander had just finished his morning shower in the upstairs bathroom and was padding naked toward his parent's former bedroom. As he passed the phone on a little table in the hallway, he had a sudden pang to call Anya. She'd gotten quite a blow the night before and on top of the way her shoulder was already injured, she'd really been through the mill lately. Xander picked up the phone and dialed Ms. Milner's, asking the old lady for room 4 (she never remembered Anya's name, no matter how many times they'd repeated it). As the old lady padded away, Xander wondered why he hadn't insisted more that Anya move in with him. It seemed just silly and a waste of good money to have to pay on both places. Since Xander had taken over the mortgage payment and had the house to himself, he wished that Anya would be more reasonable.**

**As he waited for Anya, his mind began a mental inventory of the house. There was no doubt it needed some work done. A new roof, for one. And the water tank was about ten years out of date and extremely inefficient when it came to heating the water. The front porch was sagging in spots, and the back yard really needed to be trimmed and weeded.**

"**Hey, honey. I was wondering how you were doing. Were you able to get any sleep at all?"**

"**Good morning, Xander. I'm still stiff and sore. I never should have gone to that stupid place last night. What was I thinking?" Xander could hear a slight slur in her voice, caused by the pain medication.**

"**Listen, why don't you call Giles and tell him you're just not up to coming in today. I'll stop by on my way to work and drop you off some fresh coffee and those croissants you love so much, okay?"**

"**Yeah, I think I will. You're really going to bring me the buttery croissants?"**

**Xander shrugged, though there wasn't anyone to see the gesture, "Well, of course I will, sweetheart. Nothing's too good for my girl."**

"**Oh, that's really sweet, Xan."**

"**I'll see you in a bit. Just rest till I get there." Xander hung up the phone feeling a swell of love in his chest. Anya really was a great girl and he was lucky to have her. Xander looked around the hallway, thinking of the old house and its myriad of memories. Most of them weren't real pleasant and he wondered why he had been clinging to it like he had. **

**Nodding his head in emphatic agreement with himself, he finally made the decision he should have made already. His mother didn't want the house, and he had no memories here that he wanted to cherish. And really, was it so much to give up for a chance at happiness with Anya? **

**As Xander shrugged into a shirt, he thought, _If getting an apartment will make Anya happy, then it'll make me happy. I'll pick up a paper on my way to get her breakfast._**

**That decided he looked into his mother's full length mirror at himself. He put on some muscle recently and his shirts were starting to get snug. In addition, he really did have awful taste in clothes, he decided. _All of my shirts are so damned loud! Maybe I'll ask Anya to pick out some new clothes for me. She'll like that and maybe it'll take her mind off her poor shoulder._**

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**Zeppo-Xander finally approached his home after a dreary walk. Although the sun peaked through the clouds, the rain was still falling, albeit a lot less heavily than it had. He felt miserable, smelled miserable and was not looking forward to rushing to work. He really wanted to soak for hours in a hot tub of water until he turned into a prune. Xander tripped the curb and landed flat on his face, his palms scraping painfully on the sidewalk and his knee twisting painfully. _Damnit! What the hell is wrong with me today,_ he thought. He'd slipped at least four times on the walk home.**

**As he walked up the steps, he reached into his soggy jeans for the house keys only to feel a distinct lack of them from his pocket. He began slapping at his shirt and pants in a panic, suddenly realizing he didn't have his wallet either. Somehow, he'd managed to lose everything that he'd been carrying last night and now he was locked out of his own house, with no cash, no I.D. and no cell phone. Xander felt like crying…or maybe just throwing himself on the ground and having a good old fashioned temper tantrum.**

**He let loose with a combination sigh/groan and stomped down the front steps. He'd have to go to Riley's he decided. He'd see if the giant might be able to loan him his shower and some clothing. They'd be way too big, but maybe with a belt and his jacket he'd be able to hide it until he could get back in his house. He'd have to call his boss and be late, then call the locksmith.**

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**Hyena-Xander sat under a group of large oak trees, sheltered from the rain that came in fits and starts. The sun was rising higher into the sky and it felt like it may be a nice day out. Around him lay the remains of breakfast: two squirrels and a robin that had had a broken wing and had been flapping around on the ground. Picking up a squirrel's tale he swung it around letting its momentum wrap the wiry fur around his hand, first one way and then the other. He was thinking. **

**As was nearly always the case, his attentions were focused on the pack. As the night had passed, more and more memories had come to him. Whatever that Toth creature had blasted him with, it seemed to be wearing off slowly. He now remembered that Kyle had left Sunnydale to disappear somewhere into the world, abandoning the pack. Tor had committed suicide over participating in the consumption of Principal Flutie. Although Xander might not have wanted that particular meal (all that fat) it was disappointing that Tor chose the actions he did. Still, he undoubtedly would have proven himself a weak link in the pack, so maybe it was for the best. Poor Heidi, he remembered, had been rumored to have gotten involved in drugs. She'd been sent by her parents to some rehab place and never returned to Sunnydale either and there'd been no word on what exactly had happened to Rhonda. She'd just disappeared about four months after Kyle had left. That must have been why Xander had formed a new pack with the former Slayerettes. That was the only thing that made sense, although, he still didn't know why he'd chosen them, of all the people and things in Sunnydale.**

**As his thoughts circled in on themselves, they came back to the integrity of the pack. To be strong, they needed him to be a strong leader. In order to be a strong leader, he needed to have a strong mate. Buffy was the perfect choice: strong, a powerful fighter, fast and flexible in combat, and she would have produced powerful children to expand the pack's territory. But Buffy had refused him; with a desk no less. She wouldn't mate with him voluntarily and though at one point he was ready to push the issue, now he saw the obvious drawbacks with that scenario. It would tear the pack apart as members chose sides leaving all of them vulnerable to whatever forces were arrayed against them. So, thoughts of Buffy and he being mated would have to be put aside until such time as she was more receptive.**

**That left one of the others: Willow was too weak, though his new memories seemed to indicate she was finding some strength at last. Tara was the same, if anything she was even more weak than Willow and with them being paired, there could be tensions should he attempt to claim her himself. Of course, sooner or later, the needs of the pack will require that both women mate with men anyway in order for the pack to expand its ranks, but one crisis at a time. Xander considered Anya, but rejected the thought. Though the two of them may yet produce offspring, since she became human and gave up her strength and resistance to injury, she was no longer suitable as a ruling mate. Giles would be a wonderful choice for his age and esteem as well as his intelligence, if he was wrestling for control with anyone but Buffy. **

**No, he needed a powerful ally if he was to put Buffy back in her proper place in the pack's hierarchy. He would attempt to usurp her hold on Riley, but for the fact that his will was weak. Xander could sense that he simply didn't have the darkness needed to do whatever was necessary to protect the pack. Though he made a great foot soldier, he'd never be a proper leader. Xander needed someone who had the will that would help him to bind the pack together under him and hold his leadership over them.**

**His mind drifted to the vampire, Spike. Xander turned the idea in his mind as he weighed the pros and cons. It was unfortunate that he and Spike could not produce children, but since the leader could mate with anyone of less stature in the pack, he could always impregnate the female members later. Spike also had a major drawback in that he was unable to battle in the sunlight, though in Sunnydale, most of the threats to the safe guard of the group came in the night. In addition, the Initiative chip kept him from fighting human threats, but on the practical side, his muscle wasn't really needed for that task. And of course, the Initiative itself was the only real human threat they'd had to face. And now, he had Riley in the family for that situation. His feral smile was accompanied by soft hyena-like laughter. Spike would be a good choice under the circumstances: he was strong, resistant to injury, already had a bond with Xander and the chip would keep him from attempting to usurp control of the pack since he couldn't fight off Buffy's subsequent mutiny. And Buffy would definitely mutiny against any attempt of Spike's to assume control of the pack, which the vampire already knew.**

**Hyena-Xander stood up under the trees, seeing that the rain had stopped at least temporarily. He stretched, enjoying the feel of his muscles straining the fabric of the clothing he wore. He took a moment to imagine a layout of the town and then loped off toward the crypt he knew would hold Spike during these daylight hours.**

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**Commando-Xander left the Harris residence, smoothly walking down the rain-slicked pavement without a care in the world. The sunshine felt wonderful, the rain had stopped and the day was going to be incredible. The tension he'd felt for the last several weeks over what to do with the house and the fights with Anya would be gone by the end of the day, if he had anything to do with it. She was going to be so excited.**

**As Commando-Xander stepped up the pace of his walk, he considered that it was probably time for him to go automobile shopping too. He wasn't exactly rolling in money, but the construction trade was relatively robust in Sunnydale. The current job was only scheduled to last another two weeks, but he believed himself to have shown his value and thought his boss would probably take him on at whichever site he went to next. Xander whistled to himself as he headed toward the bakery for Anya's croissants and looked for a paper box. He'd look at the classifieds and see what was available in apartments, then surprise Anya later.**

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**As Xander walked away from his own home in embarrassed shame, he heard a door very close by slam shut behind him. He tried to hunch down into his clothes, realizing he must look like a complete bum. The last thing he needed was a concerned neighbor calling the Sunnydale, P.D.**

**As he glanced behind himself, he suddenly tripped over his own feet. Lying on the sidewalk he watched himself turn away onto the sidewalk leading toward the center of town. Zeppo-Xander's eyes were as wide as saucers and he watched the dark head of hair walking away from him.**

**_Hey! What the hell am I doing over there!_ **

**Xander shambled to his feet, deciding that he just found a new priority. He saw his doppelganger take out a cell phone, his cell phone, and place it to his duplicitous ear. His duplicate was too far away to hear what was being said, but Xander had no doubt it was a call of evil. Or, maybe a call to evil. Or from evil. Whatever, the point was it was EVIL. There was no doubt about that.**

**Xander scanned the streets for a payphone so he could contact Buffy and tell her that Toth, for who else could it be, was wearing his face. Being the residential neighborhood, of course there was none around when he really needed it. Zeppo-Xander hung back but continued to follow the fake-Xander. If he could figure out where his evil counterpart's hide out was (when he wasn't hiding out in Xander's own house) then he could go to Buffy afterward and stop whatever was taking place before it got a chance to get started. Xander was at least relieved to realize that his friends hadn't just abandoned him in the trash dump after all, they'd just assumed that they had left with him.**

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**Commando-Xander had just started loading sheet-rock onto one of the trucks when his boss called him to take a break and come into the office. Two things were on Xander's mind; either he wasn't going to get the afternoon off and that was going to ruin his plans, or his boss was going to compliment him on the job he'd been doing. Xander figured it would be the latter. He had excelled at everything he'd been shown since he'd started on the crew and he was actually proud of himself; a completely foreign concept to be sure. **

**As Commando-Xander entered the office, he froze in the doorway. Turning slightly he scanned the field of labor going on around the tiny trailer office. He wasn't sure what had set off his hair, but it was standing on the back of his neck, like he was being watched. And considering his 'night job' and the whole high-school-student-on-the-Hellmouth thing; he'd gotten used to trusting his instincts. Still, as he looked around the area at all the familiar crewman, nothing seemed out of place. And no one was screaming in abject terror, so whatever was bothering him must not be a rampaging demon.**

"**Xander? Something wrong out there," Joe, his boss asked.**

"**Nah, I guess not." Xander closed the door behind him and took a seat. As his boss stood in front of him, complimenting him on the work he'd been doing so far, Xander felt around in his pocket and pulled the shiny disk he'd found a week or so ago.**

**Playing with the disc, he watched the sunlight from the nearby window flash around the room. He didn't know why he liked it so much, but he'd come to think of it as a luck charm of sorts.**

"**So, anyway," Joe was saying, "the new job is going to be a huge one. The town fathers are trying to diversify the business district a little bit, give it something large for the smaller retailers to build around. I know that the houses we've been doing aren't really much like department stores, but I was wondering if you'd be interested?"**

"**Yeah. That sounds like an interesting challenge. What would I do? I've just started roofing this week, and it's been informative."**

"**Well actually," Joe smiled, "I was wondering if you'd be interested in managing a crew."**

"**You're kidding!" Xander had sat straight up. This was huge! Not only would the pay be first rate, but just what it said about his boss' confidence in him was staggering.**

"**I think you can handle it. I've seen you out there and you haven't just been doing the heavy lifting and hammering. I've seen you do problem solving, resolving arguments out there, and of course, you haven't been afraid of getting your hands dirty. I think you could be a fine crew chief. In fact, if I were you, I'd be looking into trade school…maybe you could wind up a contractor."**

"**Joe, I don't know what to say," Xander beamed, "this is just so…so…hey! Thanks, man. I mean it; this is just the best thing you could have told me."**

"**You earned it. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you're supposed to be off for the day to apartment hunt. Get outta here. You and the little woman got something to celebrate tonight."**

"**Thanks, Joe. Thanks a lot!"**

**As Xander left, he was nearly skipping out of the door. He stopped outside of the trailer and let the sun soak into his broad muscular arms. Life was definitely on an upswing.**

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**Zeppo-Xander hunched outside of his boss' trailer, a gleeful smile on his face. He'd been so pissed when Toth had stopped by Anya's, giving her croissants and a coffee and receiving a kiss. He could have thought of that too, if he hadn't been so worried with smelling like garbage and chasing after the faker with his face. He almost screamed at Anya to get away from the bastard, but he needed to keep calm and stay out of sight until he figured out where Toth was headed.**

**Imagine his surprise when they'd ended up at the worksite. As Xander watched from behind crates or barrels, he had to give the demon a grudging respect. He'd thought that Toth would just blow off the day to day realities of Xander's life and concentrate on ruining the Scooby gang or killing Buffy or whatever his ultimate plan was. But, hand it to the demon, he was actually living Xander's life. Even going so far as to get up on the last home's roof they were building and tarring. A messy, smelly, and extremely hot job; but there he was, doing it anyway. **

**When he'd been called into the office, Xander was caught between glee and fear. He didn't want to see Joe hurt, or worse, but it sure did feel good to watch the big phony being the one to get fired. Xander knew he'd end up losing this job, he was surprised in fact that he'd lasted this long.**

**Xander crawled up on two barrels, hunching down at a small window of the trailer. He peeped the two occupants, watching them talk. He could just hear Joe complimenting his work, surprising the wits out of him. Was Joe actually not firing him? **

_**Wait, what was that? A promotion? The frickin' demon with my face gets a promotion?**_

**Xander stared at the two people, completely confused as to the turn of events. Until he saw the shiny object in his twin's hand. The disk was flattened and metal. It was reflecting sunlight off of it every time that fake-Xander twiddled it between his…no its…fingers. **

**_Hypnosis! It's an evil, hypnosis disc-thingy! He's taking over my life and screwing with the heads of everyone around "me". No wonder the gang has been tricked so easily!_**

**Xander played the scenario in his head: Toth must have made a quick exit while everyone was distracted trying to see if he was okay. While that stupid box covered him from eyesight, the demon must have somehow gotten behind the gang and over that mound of garbage before them. He could have teleported or used super speed or something. Then, not seeing where Xander's body lay, he just shapeshifted into his duplicate, and then allowed the gang to 'rescue' him.**

_**Oh, he's a sneaky one. I gotta find Will, we're going to need a de-masking spell.**_

**Xander leapt down off of the barrels. As he landed, he twisted his ankle causing him to fall forward toward one of the sites' porta-potties. As he fell head first toward the 'john', the door flew open, catching him in the face and knocking him backward. Zeppo-Xander's head hit the barrels hard and he saw stars for several seconds.**

**As he got up, holding his nose in one hand and the back of his head in the other, he saw his doppelganger walk away from the trailer. He'd removed the long sleeve shirt that he'd stolen from Xander's closet. He noted the powerful bronzed arms and felt an instant of jealousy, looking down at his own pretzel eating, beer drinking, couch-potato sitting physique. **

"**Aw, c'mon," he whispered, "this is beyond not fair."**

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End Ch 9


	10. The Xanders

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 10 – The Xanders

**As Sunnydale entered the afternoon, Spike sat on one of the sarcophagi that decorated the inside of **

'**his' crypt. He had the heavy iron door partly ajar and was staring forlornly out at the bright sunlight bathing the world. It had been raining cats and dogs earlier and Spike had been ready to spend the rare day out in the daytime, with the sun safely hidden behind the thick gray clouds. Those plans were now shot to hell. He could have enjoyed a few hours at least, if he hadn't wasted the time with another slap and tickle session with Harm. Now the bitch was buzzing around, her mouth a non-stop engine of noise and twittering that was getting on his nerves.**

**Spike had dazed out into a daydream:_ Buffy came busting into the crypt. She immediately set upon Harmony; but the blonde vampire was too much for her and Buffy was on the floor at her mercy. Of course, Harmony had no mercy, as befitting a vampire. Spike leaped to the Slayer's defense, staking Harmony from behind. As Harmony turned to ash, Spike reached through the cloud to help Buffy to her feet. She immediately launched herself into his arms, "Oh, Spike, you're my hero! How did I ever deceive myself into thinking Riley would ever be the one for me!" _**

"_**Now, now, pet," Spike replied, petting her hair, "let's not speak of your mistake again." **_

"**_Oh, Spike!" Buffy plied Spike's mouth with her own, her hot and seeking tongue devouring his as the kiss became hotter than lava._**

**Spike shook out of his daze to see Harmony standing before him, an impatient look plastered on her face.**

"**Spike! Really, I swear half the time I'm speaking anymore you're off in la-la-land. I said I'd see you later. I'm going through the tunnels to the sewer junction at Twentieth and Glade."**

"**Hm," Spike said with equal parts disinterest and boredom.**

"**Yeah, I'm meeting Sandy from high school for tea, and maybe a bite to eat. She said that she had heard from Billy that there may be some construction work going on there today. I'm hoping that a few hunky workers will stop by while Sandy and I catch up on gossip."**

"**Right, then. You should go, wouldn't want to be late now," Spike said, wishing she'd just go and possibly get lost forever in Sunnydale's warren of sewage tunnels.**

**Harmony pursed her lips in air kisses to both cheeks of Spike's angular face. "I'd kiss you for real, but if my makeup isn't perfect, Sandy will notice and talk about me behind my back. She's such a bitch since she got turned. Toodles, blondie-snuggles!"**

**As Spike followed Harmony's progress back to the lair below, he grimaced in distaste. He was really going to have to talk to her about these stupid cutey-names she kept throwing out there. He was having enough problems not getting staked by the demon crowd without her making him sound like a huge poof.**

**With Harmony out of the way, Spike went to a dark corner and pulled the plastic-Buffy he'd brought back from the garbage dump. Placing the stand-in on one of the stone slabs and arranging the hair just so, he sighed deeply, trying to picture Buffy in its place. **

**Aloud, he mused, "Buffy…why, after all the times I've been over, does Joyce think so little of me? I mean, I could've bitten her a dozen times over by now, but no! I haven't. You'd think that would rate me just a little respect, wouldn't you? How in the hell does she think Riley could be any good for you, hmmm? He's a cardboard cutout, for Hell's sake! I just don't…"**

**Spike's soliloquy was interrupted by the tomb door being slammed opened. Jumping back from the sunlight out of habit, he relaxed to see that it was only Xander standing in the doorway. Relieved at that fact, and that the sun wasn't at the correct angle to send its painful rays into the interior of the bunker-like building.**

"**Hey, Xand. Come for a drink?"**

"**Actually," Xander said, walking into the gloom, "I came to make you an offer I think you'll find interesting."**

**Spike's right eyebrow shot up his forehead.**

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**Commando-Xander pressed the buzzer on the outside of the doorway, greeting Ms. Milner with a broad grin as she opened the door to him. As she looked him over suspiciously, he said simply, "Number 4, please, Ms. Milner. And may I say; you're looking quite lovely today."**

**Ms. Milner turned away from him with a look of disdain, but Xander was sure he saw a small smile trying to break through the 'old battleaxe' façade. He walked down the stairs, standing in the sunlight on the walkway and waited for Anya.**

**Turning when he heard Anya's confused voice calling his name, he watched as she came down the front steps to join him in the sunlight. She was wearing a flowery sundress without shoes and her eyes looked at him worriedly.**

"**What are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be at work?"**

"**Actually, I have the rest of the day off. Well, I requested the rest of the day off. I wanted to come by and see how you were feeling, but more to the point I wanted to make sure that you were going to be resting today. I have plans for us this evening, if you're feeling up to it."**

"**Plans?" Anya said, still trying to decide why Xander wasn't at work where he should be at this time of day.**

"**Yeah. I thought, if you weren't too tired or sore, that you'd like to go and look at apartments tonight. What do you think?"**

**Anya's smile was a bright as the sunshine around her, her eyes dancing merrily as she replied. "Really Xander? We're really going to go apartment hunting?"**

"**I've already gone through all the listings in today's paper. I'm going to go visit them now, weed out all of the ones that are flea pits or closets with delusions of grandeur. I figured I'd pick you up late this afternoon and you could see the one's that are left. Let me know if you like any of them?"**

"**Oh, my god! This…this is so exciting! I'm going to have my own place, I mean, our own place that isn't just renting a room! We'll have a private bathroom! Oh, and my own appliances!"**

**Xander laughed, feeling good at Anya's sudden exuberance. He loved to see her like this, when she was excited and laughing. On an impulse he grabbed her, kissing her deeply and causing her to gasp in surprise when he let her go.**

"**Xander, you're not possessed or anything are you?"**

**Xander laughed again, "what in the world gave you that idea?"**

"**You're just acting…different. More confident and, I don't know, not like yourself. Plus, I swear that you're in better shape than you were a few days ago." Anya looked over his tight fitting shirt with a critical eye, "But you still don't know how to pick out shirts. That is really hideous."**

"**I know, but it was the least ugly thing I had clean. That's the other thing I'd thought we'd do…I could use some more clothes and thought you might like to help me shop. You have better taste than I do, after all."**

**Anya squealed with delight again. "This is like I'm living in some dream. I can't tell you how many times I've cringed at your taste in shirts!"**

**Xander laughed with her for a moment more. "I just have a whole new outlook on the world. I've been so busy being afraid of everything that could go wrong, that I've been distancing myself from everyone. You and I having all those fights; my running off on one-man-patrolling missions; spending my free time sitting around on my ass getting drunk. Well, no more, Anya. This is the new and very much improved Xander Harris. From now on, you and I are going to do more enjoying of this crazy little thing called life."**

"**Well, it's not that I'm not overjoyed to hear it," Anya said, worry beginning to tinge her voice, "but where is the money coming from for all of this 'enjoying'?"**

"**Ah, my sweet. Little do you realize that you are now speaking to a Crew Chief."**

"**You got a promotion? Xander, that's wonderful! Let me go grab my shoes, you can walk me to the Magic Box while you're apartment sifting."**

"**But your arm?"**

"**Are you kidding? I'm so happy right now, it could fall off and I wouldn't notice. Besides, there is no way I'm not running to the Magic Box and gloating. Not when I've been waiting so long for you to be reasonable!"**

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**Across the street, Zeppo-Xander slouched behind a car, fuming. He didn't know what his oh-so-smooth counterpart was saying to his girlfriend, but he could tell that Anya was eating it up with a spoon. Poor Anya, so easily fooled. And look at that smug smile on that bastard! Toth knew he was in like Flynn and no one was seeing him for the demon he really is!**

**Xander continued following phony-Xander and Anya as he walked her to the Magic Box. She was all smiles and animated talking the entire way, while Toth smooth-talked her. **

**It was all that Xan could do to restrain himself when the faker leaned over and kissed Anya softly before walking away. He wanted to rush up to Anya and scream for her to wake up and smell the stalking demon, but was afraid she'd already been hypno-whammied. No, Xander knew he needed to find a way to stop Toth before he could corrupt anybody else.**

**So he followed him throughout the afternoon, ducking into alleyways, crouching behind cars, and diving into crowds of people. He ignored as best he could the wild stares people gave him as they took in his disheveled and filthy appearance. He refused to be chased off by the people who gave him dirty looks when he tried to duck behind them. He did apologize for his smell to those whom he got too close to, but didn't have time to explain to them that he didn't usually use eau-de-stench, preferring Stetson.**

**Somewhere along the day, he didn't remember exactly when or where, he'd come across a medium length of branch. Broken off of one of the neighborhood trees, it was short and blunt. Perfect for use to the side of someone's head, Xander followed Xander into another apartment building as the shadows lengthened. He was getting tired out by all the walking and decided this would be where he made his stand.**

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(Earlier)

**Hyena-Xander padded into Spike's crypt, looking around at the dusty interior. His eyes swept the deeply shadowed corners out of habit, looking for any signs of imminent attack. He noticed the mannequin that Spike had set up on a large stone sepulcher, but paid it no attention. **

**Spike watched Xander walk around the tomb he'd made his own, his eyebrow lifting in puzzlement. He could detect something off with his Xander and his mind was working as to what it was that was bothering him. As Spike watched the way Xander moved, his eyes seemed drawn to the way his hips rolled, like he was a panther stalking. It wasn't the way he'd always seen Xander Harris walk before; this was more predatory, and perhaps, sexualized. Spike stared hard at the person in front of him, taking a deep breath. It revealed Xander's pheromones, but there was also something primitive and musky there. It was a scent that Spike had never smelled on his friend before, not even after they'd been in an energetic fight and the human had been sweating buckets. This scent was as dangerous as it was provocative.**

"**So, ah, what is this interesting offer, then?" Spike said, struggling to stay out of game face. Whatever had happened to Xander, it was having an interesting affect on Spike as well.**

**Spike watched with widening eyes as Xander walked toward him with those rolling hips and that tantalizing scent until he stood mere inches from the vampire. Xander smiled, and Spike swallowed subconsciously, watching the predatory cast of his glance. **

**Spike felt Xander's eyes traveling up and down the length of his body. His muscles began to hum with nervous energy and he felt his facial features begin to ripple into his predator's visage.**

**Hyena-Xander leaned forward, his face millimeters from Spike's neck, as he breathed in the vampire's dusty scent. Xander nudged Spike's cheek, for emphasis, before taking a step back.**

"**I want to know if you'd like to manage the pack at my side," Xander said simply, "as my mate."**

**Spike was standing with his eyes closed, perfectly stilled as Xander had leaned so close that he could feel the other man's body heat. As he had felt a warm nose nudge his face and heard Xander's intake of breath at his neck, his face fully ridged, the fangs springing into prominence.**

**By the time Xander pulled away, Spike felt that if he'd had a heartbeat, it would be racing. He looked at his friend with confusion, his face an uneasy mixture of distrust and lust fighting for dominance.**

"**Y-Y-You're mate? Xander, what the hell is happening to you?" **

"**Nothing. I'm the same old Xander. I'm just one that is tired of Buffy usurping my rightful place as the pack leader. I need someone strong to support me and help me put down her rebellion." Xander's eyes held a hint of the wild that Spike had never seen in him before.**

"**Xander…I don't think you realize what you're doing. You're…there's…you're different. I can smell the difference on you. It's like…there's something wild in you."**

"**I don't know what you're talking about, Spike. Look, I've tried to make this easy on her, okay? I offered to make her my mate, but she doesn't want that. She wants to rule alone and I can't condone that, no matter how much I may care for her. She needs to be shown the proper hierarchy. I can't do that alone, the others won't want to see the position she's claimed taken from her. I need someone strong to stand with me for the others to fall into line."**

**Spike, now out from under the effects of Xander's pheromones, slipped back into his human face. Retracting the fangs took effort, as the demon driving him wanted desperately to grab the human in front of him and claim him. Spike understood the impulse and if the chip hadn't been in his head, he may have already given into it. Hell, there was no maybe about it! Xander was putting off a sexual vibe that had Spike ready to rip off both their clothes, but the William part of his psyche recognized that something was extremely wrong here. And the chip gave him the self-control to think through his actions and possible effects.**

**_Fortunately for Xander,_ Spike thought, _I can't put a claim-bite on him even if I did lose control. I'm pretty sure he's going to be in a world of embarrassment once the Scoobies reverse whatever the hell is going on with him._**

**Aloud Spike told him, "I think you got the wrong idea, mate. You may have suddenly found your inner pink triangle, but if you're looking for an undead poofter, you should head for L.A."**

**Spike drew back, his face showing his shock as he heard a rumbling from Xander's chest. _Did he just growl at me? Humans don't growl! Well, not usually, but Xander sure seems to be growling now. Toth! Something in that blast has made Xander…different. I've got to get to Giles and warn the others before the guy does something we can't fix._**

"**Don't be so quick to turn me down, Spike. You think I can't feel how much you want me, right now. The sexual tension in you is so tight; you're skin's about to split. And you know, sooner or later, I will be in charge of the pack. You don't wanna find yourself on my bad side. I'll give you a few days to really think over what I'm offering you."**

**Xander turned around and all but glided to the crypt's door. His movements were smooth, again giving Spike the impression of a sleek jungle cat. Although Spike wasn't consciously aware of it, his attention was riveted on the hips and fine meaty ass of his friend.**

**Xander turned just before heading back out into the sunlight, "Oh, by the way," he started, his voice thick with an undertone of violence, "I'll be really disappointed in you, if you go running off and warning Buffy about what's coming."**

**As Xander left, not bothering to close the door, Spike reached out to steady himself against a pillar. He felt unsteady, like while Xander was there, they'd been standing in a vacuum and now that he was gone, the atmosphere was imploding back in around him. **

**When he had control of himself again, the fear came. Something was deeply wrong with his friend, something to do with Toth and that blast he'd taken. And it was deeper than Xander's weird behavior judging by his off-kilter scent.**

_**And what the hell is all this 'pack' talk, anyway?**_

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End Ch 10


	11. A Brief Scuffle Ensues

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 11 – A Brief Scuffle Ensues

**Commando-Xander preceded the tenant landlord into the apartment. In a quick glance he noticed the door leading to a small terrace, the large living room/dining area and a small but reasonably nice kitchen. Anya would love it, he knew. **

**"And it has two bedrooms and two baths?" Xander asked, looking at the woman who was, it should be said, standing inappropriately close to him.**

**"Yes, well, no… I mean," the auburn haired woman said, looking up into the beautiful large eyes of the stranger. "Let me try this again," she laughed lightly, "It has one master bedroom and another room that is just large enough for a small bedroom or office. The master bedroom comes with a master bath. The second bathroom is small; you can see the door right over there. It's not a full bath. It's just the commode and a sink. Of course," the woman added hastily, "the available floor space is quite generous for the monthly rent."**

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**Zeppo-Xander limped down the hallway, favoring his right leg. He'd tried to keep up with Toth-in-his-body, but his efforts to take two stairs at a time had ended with him slipping and banging his leg painfully on a step. No doubt, there'd be a huge bruise by tomorrow. Now he was afraid he'd ended up losing the bastard, just when he'd had his courage screwed up to confront him.**

**As Xander came around a corner, he heard his own voice distinctly close by. He saw just a few doors from the corner in which he'd ducked around, an apartment door open and his own voice issuing from within it. **

**Xander heard himself, or Toth rather, ask to see the spare room. A woman agreed, and Xander rushed down the hallway to the open door, peaking inside. As he saw the woman and Toth looking into the spare room, he looked about at the apartment Toth was checking out. He had to admit to himself that it was really nice. Of course, how Toth was going to be able to afford a place like this, Xander didn't know.**

**_Oh, God! He's going to sell my frickin' house! He is totally ruining everything, that bastard!_**

**Xander quickly pulled away from the doorway, as he noticed Toth beginning to turn around. Pacing quickly back to the corner, he strained his ears to hear what Toth was saying.**

**"My girlfriend is going to love this place," he had the nerve to say, "I'd think I'd like to go ahead and sign the papers. Let you run that credit check."**

**"You don't want to let you're girlfriend," and Xander in the hallway thought he heard disappointment in the woman's voice on that last word, "come and see it first?"**

**_What the hell! He's moving in with Anya? No wonder he went into the site, then. He plans on taking over my life permanently. This has got to stop now, before Anya winds up hurt or having lizardy demon-babies._**

**As Xander strained around the corner as far as he dared, he heard the sound of papers rustling. "Not necessary," he heard Toth inform the landlord-lady, "when she sees that veranda, it'll be a done deal."**

**"Wonderful! I'll just take these downstairs and jump on the computer. Sunnydale Central Savings and Loan should be able to confirm your employment history in no time. I've never lived in a town where things happened so fast!"**

**"Well, we've always strived to maintain that small town, friendly atmosphere," Xander told Bonita, his future landlady. **

**Of course, the real reason why there wasn't the red tape and delays that occurred in other towns was the Mayor's efforts to get as many future meals in chomping range as he could for his ascension plans. And even though those plans were a ruined deal nearly a year and a half ago now, the new mayor had kept the streamlining policies in place. Xander often wondered if Mayor Anthony Brackesh was planning an ascension of his own, or if he was actually just the regular guy he appeared to be. Willow hadn't been able to dig up anything suspicious about him, other than his questionable dating profile on Professional Daters-dot-com; but that didn't mean he wasn't secretly evil.**

**_Oh, right, like you'd know anything about life in Sunnydale. Lying, smooth, demon bastard-guy._ As Zeppo-Xander spied around the corner, the woman walked out of the apartment. Xander ducked back around the corner, hoping the lady wasn't going to walk this way with his imposter in tow. After several seconds, he took a quick peek around the corner to see her walking away in the opposite direction. Toth for his part was watching her, her hips swaying back and forth in a tight black skirt.**

**_You son of a bitch, don't even think about it, _Xander raged. _I can't believe that bastard is eye-cheating on Anya. Wait, I mean, oh never mind!_**

**Xander gripped the short and stocky tree branch in both hands, squeezing tightly until it just started to hurt his palms. _I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, _he chanted to himself as he rushed down the hallway toward the demon. _At least he wasn't carrying that laserbeam-staff with him._**

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**Commando-Xander stood in the new apartment's doorway watching the movements of the rear end of the landlady as she headed back to her own apartment/office to clear his way to renting. He thought she might be overdoing the hip-sway thing, he'd noticed she'd been clearly flirting with him the entire time she was showing him the new pad. Not that he'd ever actually pursue it, of course. He was a one-woman man, and Anya had the title. There was nothing wrong with appreciating when someone found you attractive though. After all, it wasn't something that Xander experienced every day. And when someone was shaking her caboose like that, it'd be rude not to notice.**

**From the corner of his eye he caught the sudden rush of movement of someone barreling down the hallway at him. He had just pulled the cell phone from his pocket, getting ready to call Anya. As Xander turned, already raising his hands defensively (a reaction you developed as a Scooby-member), he saw a blurred image of a club swinging toward him. **

**Commando-Xander tried to pull away from the coming blow, only to have the club smash heavily into his wrist; the cell phone breaking apart as it was slammed out of his hand and into the woodwork of the doorway.**

**_Shit! That's gonna cost me! _Xander quickly forgot about the phone to confront his attacker, finding himself staring at himself!**

**"What the hell?" Commando-Xander yelled.**

**"You're not ruining things for me and Anya!" The imposter was disheveled, and dirty. Plus, he stank like a landfill in the summer. _Toth! Toth has taken on my face, and he's after Anya!_**

**"You stay the hell away from her," Commando-Xander yelled at his opponent. Then he was rushing toward the imposter.**

**Zeppo-Xander stumbled backward as Toth rushed toward him. He brought the branch around in a wide swing when he felt his wrist blocked by the demon.**

**Commando-Xander blocked a swing by Toth and his magic staff, swinging his own fist into the demon's face.**

**As Zeppo-Xander reeled away by the blow to his face, he felt a heavy foot crash into his mid-section. Dropping the makeshift club, he tried to prevent his fall, while recovering enough to stop the follow up attack by the demon. Unfortunately, his ankles got crossed with one another and he felt himself hit the carpet heavily, the wind knocked from him. **

**Scrambling to his feet, he saw Toth retrieving the branch that he'd dropped within the demon's reach. Zeppo-Xander struggled to his feet in a panic and ran for the stairwell. _I can't take him, he's too good. I gotta get to Willow's! I gotta get a better weapon!_**

**Commando-Xander grabbed Toth's staff from the floor, just noticing how much it looked like any old ordinary tree branch. As he came upright, he pointed the staff at Toth, hoping the damned thing would shoot whatever it was that it shot him with before. **

**Commando-Xander found him self alone in the hallway. He could hear Toth's heavy tread as he descended the stairway around the corner. He briefly considered giving chase but realized that he had gotten a powerful artifact from the demon. The thing to do now was get the magic doohickey to the Magic Box and safely away from his grasp.**

**Xander looked at the broken remnants of his employer's cell phone lying in scattered bits on the carpet. Grimacing, he pushed the broken pieces of plastic into the apartment and shut the door. He would have to clean that up later. **

**He stopped off for a brief moment at the manager's office, explaining he'd just been called into an emergency at work. He asked her for a key, which she produced with her congratulations on his new tenancy. He struggled for a friendly smile, and then quickly rushed out of the door, accelerating to a quick jog in the direction of the Magic Box.**

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End Ch 11


	12. Plans of Action

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 12 – Plans of Action

**Commando-Xander was heading at a rapid jog toward the Magic Box, club in hand. The sun was beginning to dip and twilight was rapidly approaching. Above his head, clouds began to rumble in from the west. Apparently they were going to get another bout of fall rain, he grimaced.**

**A few blocks from Giles' store, he heard a familiar voice shout out to him. Stopping and turning, he waved over to Buffy and Riley.**

**"Nice branch there," Riley said as he came strolling up. **

**"Not just any branch, it's that Toth guy's magic beam spitter."**

**"You sure, Xan?" Buffy asked, her nose scrunching up, "it looks like a plain old branch to me."**

**"Looks are deceiving, Buff. I took it off of him myself, not twenty minutes ago."**

**"Wow, really?" Buffy said, impressed.**

**"He attacked me, but I was able to chase him off somehow. But that's not the half of it. Guys, Toth has somehow made himself look just like me! I'm talking the ultimate evil twin, here. And he must have been following me all day, because he attacked me at the apartment I was looking at."**

**"Apartment?" Riley asked.**

**"Yeah, I've decided that Anya is worth more than keeping the run-down house. I'm going to fix it up a bit and put it on the market. Anyway, I've signed the papers on a new place; Anya is going to go ape. Oh, god, that reminds me; Toth was mentioning Anya, Buffy. I'm afraid he's going to target her for something by pretending to be me."**

**"That's not going to happen on my watch," Buffy said. "Don't worry about that. Were you taking the staff-thingy to Giles'?"**

**"Exactly. I was going to run out and arrange this whole romantic picnic thing for Anya, and then surprise her tonight, too. Guess that'll have to wait awhile."**

**"Oh, no it won't!" Buffy said, indignant, "You and Anya deserve a little celebration that is fight-free. Go. Give me that staff, I'll take it to the store. You go arrange your special evening."**

**"Are you sure Buffy? It seems wrong to flake out on a showdown when you might need me."**

**"I'm very sure. Riley and I can handle Toth. And, I'll know where you are if I need you."**

**"Plus," Riley added, "it'll keep us from getting confused in the melee and hitting the wrong one of you."**

**Xander handed over the staff to Buffy, who weighed it in her hands. She frowned at the offending stick, "It still looks like a plain old branch, though."**

**"Just don't go pointing it around," Xander said, "and thanks. I really appreciate you taking care of this so Anya and I can have our night. She has no clue what's coming, though. So, mum's the word. I'll pick her up at the 'Box' at around quarter to seven, if you can keep her there for me."**

**"No sweat," Buffy nodded, "I'm so happy that you guys have worked things out."**

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**Zeppo-Xander was running blindly down the streets of Sunnydale, berating himself. It had been stupid trying to take on that demon by himself and he knew it. At least, he used to know better. Before Dracula had come and completely changed his life. He hadn't been able to save his own father, he'd be dead now or worse if it wasn't for Spike, and now he was about to lose Anya and all of his friends to 'Mr. Smooth-talker'. Xander stopped, wiping tears of frustration and fear from his eyes. **

**Looking around he noticed that he'd somehow managed to run into Riley's neighborhood. He took a quick glance behind him, tripping over the uneven pavement as he did so. Falling to the sidewalk, he banged his funny bone hard on the cement and screamed before falling into a litany of cuss words. Fortunately there was no one on the street to be offended.**

_**God, I'm so frickin' clumsy today. Toth must have stolen my coordination or something when I got hit yesterday. **_

**Xander climbed back to his feet, massaging his arm in an attempt to get the pins and needles to stop. His elbow bone continued screeching to him for its abuse. _Has it only been a day? Actually, its a few hours less than a day, at that, and Toth has still made me feel like a complete Zeppo. What am I gonna do?_**

**He was about to give up and go to find Buffy when an image appeared in his mind. _Anya, looking at him in disappointment, the embarrassment in her eyes that she'd ever gotten involved with him. And then there was Buffy with that 'Xander needs saving again' look._**

_**No! Goddammit, Toth is not going to screw up my life this way. Riley! I'm near Riley's…he may be out patrolling, but I can easily check. Then I'll go to Willow; she won't look at me like I'm useless the way Buffy will if I run to her with my tail between my legs.**_

**Xander wandered the block until he came to a non-descript apartment block of gray cinder. Following the cracked tarmac, he went around the side of the building and into the back where a small parking lot sat. A few cars were in the lot, two of which looked so rusted-out, they might not even start anymore. He grimaced at the depressing scene that met his eyes, _Wow, it didn't look this sad when we were here in the daytime._**

**From Riley's 'housewarming' lunch and beers, Xander knew that his apartment was around the back. He approached the back door of the place and gave it a tug, but as expected it was locked. The outer doors required a key or someone to buzz you in. **

**Continuing past the back door, Xander arrived a few windows down on the back of the building. If he counted right, he should be standing at the bedroom window of Riley's. Since there were blinds drawn, he couldn't be absolutely positive, but since he was desperate anyway, he began to pound on the window. At first he tapped the window softly, afraid of drawing attention from the other residents, but then harder as his frustration mounted.**

**When there remained no response, Xander removed his shirt; looking around warily the entire time. Darkness was coming fast now and he didn't want to be picked up as a breaker-and-enterer nor did he want to become a snack for a vampire. He had tried that, thank you, didn't like it; wasn't interested in giving it another try.**

**Wrapping his shirt as many times as he could around his right elbow, he smashed the appendage against the bedroom window. After a few false starts in which the window slowly cracked, it finally broke completely, sending shards of glass into the room beyond. Xander felt upward for the window's latch and was relieved when it turned easily enough for him to unlock the window. As he crawled inside and quickly re-shut the window, fighting to get the blinds back in place, he called out quietly for Riley.**

**Xander stood stock still, trying to see anything familiar in the room. He was scared now that he'd broken into the wrong apartment and was about to be greeted with a shotgun wielding sumo-wrestler. But, no, the apartment remained quiet.**

**He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted a picture of Riley, Buffy and Giles. They were all grinning stupidly from within the frame. He remembered the day he took that so Riley would have a picture of himself and Buffy for his bedside stand. He didn't remember how Giles had ended up in the picture. It was oddly comforting that the frame sat on Riley's dresser, however, rather than near the bed. That would've just been creepy.**

**After Xander had left a note on Riley's bed explaining the broken window pane, he searched the bedroom. Riley was an ex-military man and it stood to reason that he'd have a gun stashed somewhere in the apartment. Smart money would put it within easy reach for any uninvited nighttime visitors. As he pulled open the nightstand, he saw a glint of metal and smiled. A handgun, looking polished enough to see a reflection in sat in the bottom of the drawer surrounded by various detritus. As he pulled the gun from the drawer, getting used to its weight, he tried to ignore the condom packages and insisted his brain not think about Buffy and Riley at that moment.**

**Slamming the drawer shut, he left the way he'd come. Another indignity was suffered as he fell out of the window aggravating the injury to his elbow.**

**Swearing again, this time under his breath, he took off toward the U.C. Sunnydale campus. He hoped to find a pay phone on the way so he wouldn't have to walk the whole distance.**

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**Spike paced furiously in the sewer below Main Street. He'd been there already for twenty minutes smoking his way through a pack of fags waiting for the damned sun to go away. Despite the occasional rumble of thunder and the humid air that promised rain very soon, the clouds still hadn't covered up the burning disc. **

**His mind was busy repeating the scene earlier in the day over and over. He was deeply worried about Xander. **

**He was also angry. This second emotion was directed firmly at Harmony and her whining when he'd made it clear that he was going out without her to meet with the Scoobies. She'd complained that he was setting her up for Buffy; then it was that he cared more about Xander than he did her (which was true, and he told her so); and finally it was a tirade about how he treated her wrong- blah, blah, blah. It had been a mercy to get away from her clinging nattering.**

**As Spike's senses were telling him that the sun had finally sunk below the horizon where it was no longer dangerous, water suddenly rushed into the sewer in which he was standing. Above his head he heard the familiar voice of Buffy yelling out a complaint at the sudden deluge of rain. As Spike reached up to the street grate to begin the climb out of the sewer, water ran over his head, soaking his favorite and ubiquitous leather jacket.**

"**Oh, that's nice," he said, complainingly.**

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**Thirty minutes before sundown, Commando-Xander called the Magic Box and asked for Anya. Giles had been briefed on Xander's big plans by Buffy when she'd dropped off Toth's staff (which he thought looked different before, but couldn't be sure). Although Giles had wanted her and Riley to research, she'd insisted on going back out to patrol for the demon. Lowering his voice, he'd asked Xander if he was ready and when Xander confirmed, Giles gave him a whispered 'good luck'.**

**After he'd gotten Anya on the line, he had apologized for not picking her up and doing this right. He explained that he'd gotten tied up, but that they had a seven o'clock appointment to look at an apartment that he thought she was going to love.**

**He had expected Anya to be mad that he was making her walk to the new apartment, but she had been so excited, she had nearly slammed the phone on his ear so she could rush out. Now twenty minutes later, Anya, breathless but grinning met him in the hallway.**

"**Oh, I'm so excited! Where's the manager? We need the key!"**

"**Whoa, whoa, honey. Calm down. I have the key right here," Xander said pulling the gold colored piece of metal from his pant's pocket. "First I need you to close your eyes for a minute."**

"**My eyes? What for?"**

"**Tradition." Xander answered, a warm smile on his handsome features, "It's kinda a thing where when you have a surprise for someone, they have to close their eyes first."**

"**I have a surprise? Inside the apartment?" Anya said, her eyes dancing merrily with bewilderment but also joy.**

"**Yep. I really hope you like it. I didn't have a lot of time, but I think I did good. Now, eyes closed. And no peeking until I say so."**

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**The sun was down and Zeppo-Xander had been caught in a sudden downpour just as it turned dark. His eyes were wary, scanning the darkness around him for any signs of hostiles. He was again berating himself, this time for not grabbing a stake or at least a crucifix before running out after dark.**

**He was out of breath by the time he reached Tara's room. His first stop before trying Willow's room, as she more likely would be here. Drenched and shivering with cold, he knocked hard on the door.**

"**Xander!" Willow greeted her best friend. A smile was quickly replaced with worry however, when she noticed his disheveled appearance and, well, he smelled like he hadn't showered since the dump. "Xander? What is it? Why do you look like something Miss Kitty Fantastico wouldn't bother dragging in?"**

"**Hey, Will. Listen, I need to say something and its going to sound completely nuts, but I swear it's the truth." Xander was looking slightly panicked, deepening Willow's worry.**

"**Okay, before I get into it, I gotta prove to you that this is me. I'm the real Xander… um…oh god, what's something that only we know…"**

"**Xander, I think you need a breath…or maybe a whole lot of them. You're starting to sound like me when I turn into babble-girl."**

"**Oh!" Xander snapped his fingers, apparently not hearing her, "When I was, uh, seven I wanted that fire truck. And I didn't get it and I was really disappointed, but then there was a real fire next door and the fire trucks came and I thought you had started the fire for me so that I'd get my fire truck."**

**Xander took a deep breath, while Willow sat quietly. On her face was conflicting amusement, worry, and confusion over what in the world Xander was doing.**

"**And I promise, if you became a little arsonist, I'd still think it was the coolest thing ever! Oh! And there's the Charlie Brown special every year!" Xander snapped his fingers, "You know, the Snoopy dance!" Xander began his impersonation of the Peanut's character's dance to Willow's further amusement. She laughed out loud as she remembered the times as kids (and truth time: as not so kids) when he'd be Snoopy and she'd be Peppermint Patty and would call him Chuck as she mimicked some of the dance moves of the animated characters.**

"**Xan, please stop, before I bust my gut. You're you, okay? I know you're you. Now what's going on?"**

**Xander deflated in relief at Willow's words. "Oh, thank God. Okay, last night when I got hit with that magical thingy of Toth's?" He waited for Willow's nod of acknowledgment. "Well, what you guys took home last night wasn't me. I was unconscious under a cardboard box. And by the way, waking up in a trash dump…not recommended. I've been following phony-me all day."**

"**Wait. If we didn't walk you home, then who did we? I mean, he had your keys and the cell phone and everything!"**

**Xander shook his head, commiserating with her confusion, "It's Toth. It's gotta be. Some how he's managed to make himself look like me and he pick pocketed me too. I can probably kiss that thirty bucks in my wallet good-bye."**

"**Oh, my gods! Xander, I'm sorry. We should have noticed something was wrong, but except maybe being more confident, he's got you down pretty damned well."**

"**Don't I know it, Will. I followed him to the site and my boss gave him my promotion without batting an eye!"**

"**You got a promotion?" Willow gave him a huge grin, "Congratulations! That's so exciting. And you have so earned it."**

"**Focus, Wills. Toth got the promotion, we have to stop him. Oh, and he's using this shiny, hypnosis thing he keeps in his pocket. Oh, and you know what else, the bastard is seducing Anya, too. He is like this super-smooth criminal, except he looks like me instead of Michael Jackson in gangster wear."**

"**It's okay, Xan. Now that we know, Tara and I can do a 'seeing past the illusion' type spell. Anya will see that it's Toth and not you."**

"**Oh, god! Anya could be with him right now! He was looking at apartments earlier. I think he's going to try to be me permanently and have slimey babies with her!"**

"**Calm down, Xan. We're going to stop him. Just let me run over to the library and grab Tara…"**

"**No, I can't wait. I've gotta find Anya," Xander yelled as he sprinted for the door, "you guys get with Buffy and fill her in." As Xander took off down the hallway, before Willow could protest his running off, she heard him yell back, "And somebody call my cell! Ask to talk to her!"**

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**Tara was sitting in one of the campus library's A/V rooms. Around her sat five other students of mixed genders and races, all talking animatedly. Tara was actively defending her views on Marie Antoinette as historical victim and was proud of her self. She knew if this discussion had been going on the year before, she'd be sitting here trying to disappear into the cushiony chair she'd claimed upon entering. In fact, she probably would have looked for any excuse to skip sitting in a group all together.**

**She was just about to concede that it was possible that Marie was, in fact, not innocent in the persecution of the poor in France, when the door was pulled open violently. As all eyes turned to take in the cause of the interruption, Tara saw Willow panting wildly out of breath.**

"**T-Tara," Willow panted, "sorry to interrupt study group. We need to go, we, um," Willow took in the bewildered students in the room, "we, uh, forgot that meeting we had tonight. The, uh, crime club meeting."**

**Tara had been puzzled by Willow's demeanor until she said 'crime club'. As Tara realized a Scooby-emergency had arisen, she was already gathering her things together.**

"**Sorry about this, Stacy," Tara said to a brunette she'd just been arguing with. "I am so flaky sometimes. I completely forgot about the time and the, uh, crime club meeting. Listen, I look forward to continuing this debate in class on Friday though."**

**As Tara and Willow crossed the library's main floor toward the exit, Tara asked Willow why she hadn't just called her.**

"**Oh! In the excitement, I completely forgot we have cell phones now!"**

**Willow patted her skirt before giving an annoyed huff, "Dammit. I left the phone on the bed."**

"**It's okay, I have mine. What's going on?"**

"**Long story, but it boils down to Toth looks like Xander and we've all been played for dupes. Can you give Buffy's cell a call and tell her we're on our way?"**

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**As the downpour stopped as quickly as it had started, Buffy and Riley was noticing that the Magic Box was darkened, the door locked. As her cell began vibrating in her pocket, she noticed Spike crawling up from the sewer. Hitting the 'answer' button, she said aloud, "What the hell do you want and why are you down there?"**

"**Uh, Buffy? Sorry, am I, um, b-bothering you in the middle of, uh, s-something?"**

"**Tara? Oh, no, sorry! That wasn't at you, Spike just crawled up from the sewers, which," she pulled the phone away from her ear to direct her comment directly at Spike, "is really disgusting. What's up Tara?" Buffy asked, as she completely turned her back on the vampire struggling to crawl out of the manhole.**

"**We need to have an emergency Scooby meeting about Toth. Xander just talked to Will…"**

"**And Toth is impersonating Xander," Buffy finished. "I know, I saw him. Riley and I are at the 'Magic Box' now, but Giles has it closed already. We're going to have to meet at his place. We're on our way now. And Tara, I'm nearly out of minutes… could you pretty please call Giles to let him know we're invading again? Thanks, you're a sweetheart. See you soon."**

**Buffy hung up the phone and turned to Spike, "Okay, back to my question."**

"**Not much to tell. Seems you're already up on what's happening. Although, at least now I can stop worrying that Xander's possessed or crazy."**

"**You saw Xander today?"**

"**And he was acting really odd. Even for him."**

"**Wow, he's been busy today. Okay, we're going to Giles to find out if he has anything on where Toth may be now or how to use that staff that Xander got away from him."**

**Spike looked astonished, "Xander got that demon's glow rod thing? I'm impressed with the runt."**

"**Well, this chat has been oh-so-pleasant, but I'm sure you have a butcher to visit or broken furniture to shop for…" Buffy said as she led Riley away.**

**Spike wasn't one to be put off by her bitchery, however. "Sorry, luv. You don't get rid of me that easily. If Xander's in danger, I'm gonna be there to help."**

**Scant seconds later, Spike felt the need to add, "I mean help him out of the danger, not into it. You got that right?"**

**Buffy didn't bother to respond. And all he received from Riley was a glare.**

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**As the sudden downpour stopped, a male figure hunched over in the woods. In his hands were the limp remains of a wild rabbit, its neck cleanly broken. **

**Hyena-Xander tore into the rabbit with gusto, enjoying its still warm blood bathing his hands. The raw meat tantalized his senses and as his teeth tore its skin open, his stomach growled in anticipation.**

**Eating rapidly, lest other more powerful predators arrive to take his prize, he threw the torn bits of fur, the feet, the ears and the tail away from him in distaste. Xander walked over to a tree on the edge of the wood and licked water from the leaves, enjoying its fresh, clean taste.**

**He was idly considering finding Spike to talk again about his earlier offer when a familiar scent caught his attention. It was faint and drifting on the breeze that made the trees sing above his head, but it was there. He closed his eyes to take a deep, even breath through his nostrils. Teasing the scent he wanted from those of the rabbit's remains and other spoor on the wind, his eyes shot open suddenly and he growled out into the night.**

**Xander began to stalk away from the woods. He knew this scent. It was the same as in the dump when he'd woken up disoriented after the scuffle with Toth. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. There had been a duplicate of him self lying in the trash heap and now he could remember the crippling hunger that had driven thought from his mind. He'd completely forgotten about the odd occurrence until now, until the same-but-different scent called out to him. Xander began the hunt for its source.**

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End Ch 12


	13. Interlude Before Action

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 13 – Interlude Before Action

"**Holy frijoles!" Anya shrieked upon opening her eyes. She took in the scene before her, her eyes already misting over. **

**Behind her she heard Xander say, "So, did I do as good as I think I did?"**

**Anya took a moment to compose herself and then turned and threw herself into her man's arms. The shoulder protested slightly, but Xander quickly adjusted to avoid squeezing the injured arm. She kissed him deeply, then turned away from him and rushed down to her knees.**

**Spread out before her was a picnic blanket. On the blanket stood two table-top candle stands, each holding two candles already lit. Also on the blanket lay a spread of two plates and two wine glasses; empty at the moment. Anya's eyes lit upon the picnic basket lying to one side of the blanket and her stomach nearly growled as she smelled fried chicken coming from it. Next to the basket lay an ice bucket which was chilling a bottle of chardonnay. **

**Anya returned to her feet, taking in the rest of the apartment. She noted the cabinets in the kitchen, separated from the main room by a high counter top. This was on the left of the room and in this direction also were two doors, currently closed.**

**On the right side of the room a single door stood slightly ajar, the room dark within. Anya turned back to Xander who had come up behind her, one hand lightly resting on her good shoulder while the other gripped her hip.**

"**This is so beautiful, Xander. I love this apartment!"**

"**Not so fast. You haven't seen the master bath, yet." As Xander led her into the room with the door ajar and flipped a light switch, Anya saw it had another door on the opposite side of the room. Following Xander, who again got the light for her, she saw a spacious bathroom with gleaming tiles the color of sand and a large vanity mirror. **

"**It's wonderful. Where do we sign?"**

"**Oh, no you don't. You haven't seen the best part of the place, yet."**

"**Xander," Anya said with passion, "I love this place, right now. When can we take it?"**

**Xander laughed warmly, and took her by the hand. Leading her back out of the bedroom, he pointed to a door she hadn't noticed before in the room. **

"**That looks like an outer door. Oh, my god! Don't tell me this place has a veranda!" Anya laughed out loud in excitement as she left Xander standing in the living room and made a mad dash for the mystery door. Opening this, she found a small veranda sitting, already furnished with a very petite patio table and three wicker chairs in white. "Ah!" Anya screamed again, jumping up and down in place.**

"**When I saw that, I knew I had to show you the place," Xander said, a huge grin on his face. "Come back in here and sit down. We've got chicken, potato salad and wine. When we're done, I've got some vanilla pudding in the fridge."**

"**This is amazing," Anya said, as she did what he'd beckoned, "I can't believe you did all this, Xander." She leaned in and kissed him again, "And I do love this apartment. Please tell me no one else is interested in renting it?"**

"**Well, actually, some guy has already signed a lease," Xander said to her. He pulled out a stack of folded papers from the heavy jacket he wore.**

**As Anya took the sheaf of papers, she noticed a key had been taped to the stack. She opened the sheath of papers and saw 'Alexander L. Harris' filled into multiple blank spaces. Her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, she looked to see Xander's face displaying affection and humor.**

"**So, I was really hoping you'd fall in love with the place on first sight."**

**Anya laughed and dashed around the space, touching the walls; running her hands along the counter top; and opening the doors that had been closed. One was just a room, the other a small bathroom. She felt as light as air and twirled around in circles in the living room, before returning to the small blanket laid out on the floor. **

"**You are the most wonderful man I've ever known." She kissed him again.**

"**And you are beautiful," Xander returned.**

"**When do we get married and start having children?" **

**Xander sat stunned, not knowing what had happened to the conversation, "Uh, what?"**

"**That's what comes next, right. We get married, have children, then start to look for a house. Something with a white picket fence, according to the television movies I've seen."**

"**Whoa-whoa-whoa, Anya, slow down a bit. We just got our first apartment together. There's no rush."**

"**Well of course there's a rush, Xander! I'm dying!"**

**Xander stood shell shocked, his mind racing. "What, you're what? You're not…"**

"**In as little as fifty years, I could be in my grave. There's so little time to squeeze everything in!"**

**Xander exploded in brief, relieved laughter. Seeing the distraught look on Anya's face, he forced himself to sober up. "Listen, Ahn. We have decades and decades of time left."**

**Anya came to sit beside him on the blanket and leaned against him. "But Xander, it's not a lot of time. We have to raise the kids and maybe some puppies, and still have time to retire and travel the world, plus we're both becoming career people and you know how much time that's going to eat up. Plus all that time we have to waste with sleep. It's all just rushing so fast."**

"**Listen to me, Ahn. You're just feeling this sudden panic because you've gone from immortal to mortal and it's all a big shock. I get that. But it's all going to be okay. People have been doing everything with far less than fifty years for centuries. We've got the time. Just slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy the moment. Everything else will come when it's time. When we both know it is right. Now, here; let's unpack some of this food and open the bottle. I'm starved." **

**Xander leaned in and gave Anya a long kiss. As he felt her relaxing under his ministrations, he withdrew and smiled at her. "Life is going to be very long; and probably very silly for the both of us. I can't think of anyone better to laugh through it with."**

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**Willow and Tara were rushing through town on their way to Giles' apartment. Both of their arms were laden with candles, a few scent bottles of oils and a map of Sunnydale and its environs. Much of this may have already been at Giles', but Willow had insisted that they go prepared.**

**As they edged their way around Sunnydale Memorial Park; they were startled by the sudden appearance of Xander. As they both gasped and Willow shrieked, Tara lost her hold on her candles and they fell to the sidewalk.**

**Tara knelt down to retrieve the lost items, while Willow berated Xander for scaring her. "Did you find Anya, yet," she asked him.**

"**Anya? Who the hell would need to find Anya?" Xander yipped in laughter. "I was actually following a scent when I noticed you walking off somewhere awfully fast. Thought I'd come over and get a good look at you."**

**Tara noticed immediately that Xander was acting extremely odd. As she freed her arms by dropping her supplies, Willow was backing away from him.**

"**You know," this weird-Xander said, still focused completely on Willow, "you've got a lot more power than I remember. I can smell it coming off of you in waves. I may have to re-think my whole choice in mates." As Xander took a step forward toward Willow to close the gap she'd made, Tara jumped up to her feet.**

**Before she could respond, Willow already beat her to the punch. "Lumen Mico!" Willow yelled out.**

**Hyena-Xander was intrigued with the red-headed witch. He had known her forever, and yet he was surprised at the mystic strength radiating from her. He didn't know why it had taken so long for him to perceive her in such a new way, but he felt lust quickly building in his loins for her.**

**As he closed in on her, he heard her shout out something unintelligible. There was a sudden and intense white light that exploded in front of his eyes, sending spears of pain into the back of his skull. **

**Instantly he reacted, instinctively lashing out in front of him. He felt the pleasant pain from the back of his fist connecting solidly with flesh and the hard bone beneath. There was the sound of a surprised grunt, then a body hitting pavement.**

**He heard the other witch, Tara, screech Willow's name. He had completely forgotten the timid woman was even nearby; he'd been so focused on Willow's scent. **

**As he heard her yell, Xander automatically turned to face Tara, despite the fact that he could see little other than bright spots in front of his eyes. His wide mouth pulled back in a grimace and he growled in her general direction. **

**Tara took a step back, shocked that an actual animal-like growl was issuing at her from a face she associated with friendly laughter. Raising her hand into a fist, she chanted, "depulso", and from her hand shot a green blob of energy which leaped to fake-Xander and threw him away from them.**

**As Hyena-Xander felt himself lifted and tossed away, he snarled. Hitting the ground, he rolled onto his feet and took off at a run. **

**_I don't know what I was wasting my time for anyway,_ he thought darkly. _I'm supposed to be hunting down my alter-ego and finding out what the hell is going on!_**

**As odd-Xander took off running, Tara was helping Willow back to her feet. She appeared to be alright, except for a red mark across her jaw.**

"**I'm alright, sweetie. I think it was just a glancing blow."**

"**Okay, if that was Toth trying to pretend to be Xander, it wasn't even close to convincing," Tara stated as she began picking up their supplies.**

"**I know. And what is with all this mating talk? I thought Xander told me he was interested in seducing Anya. It looks more like it's a free-for-all as far as Toth is concerned."**

"**Well, we better get to Giles'."**

"**And fast," Willow added.**

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**As Tara and Willow were meeting Hyena-Xander, Zeppo-Xander was involved in a heated battle of his own. It was less violent, but just as brutal.**

**Ms. Milner stood at the front door, glaring out at Xander through the locked screen door. "I have told you more than once, young man, 'No boys allowed!' If you and Anya want to have pre-marital relations, you'll do it somewhere that doesn't care about respectability!"**

"**I've tried to explain, Ms. Milner: this isn't a social call. It's urgent that I speak to her. She could be in danger."**

"**You couldn't even bother to get cleaned up first," the old lady said in revulsion, "you stink like a darned waste can. And it's coming through the screen and polluting my hallway. You just get out of here until you can show a little decency and hygiene."**

**Zeppo-Xander watched as Ms. Milner began closing the heavy wood door in his face. Desperate, he yelled at her, "Look, you old goat! If you don't get Anya in number four out here right now, I'll…I'll, uh, I'll call the police! Yeah, I'll tell them you're holding her hostage against her will. What will the neighbors think then, huh? How respectable will it look when they've got a blow horn in the front yard and their lights flashing all over?"**

**Ms. Milner sniffed derisively at him. "There's no need to threaten me, young man. I'll have you know that I have a sterling reputation with this neighborhood. Besides, your girl isn't even here. She's at work still, probably because you're too damned cheap to marry her and take care of her as a real man would!"**

**Xander was just starting to shout at the bitter old broad that she could have just told him that before, but the protest was interrupted by the door being slammed forcefully in front of him. As Xander cursed, he sped off of the porch, his panic ratcheted up. **

_**Please, please, let her be at the Magic Box!**_

**Xander raced as fast as his out-of-shape body could to the magic store, only to find it locked. The lights were off, except for a small lamp on the counter.**

**Now nearly hyperventilating in panic, and squeezing the hard metal of the pistol in his pocket, Xander fought to think. He began to consider running to Giles' or perhaps Buffy's when he realized exactly where Anya probably was.**

"**Oh, god," Xander said in despair to the night, "Toth's apartment!"**

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End Ch 13


	14. Giles' Place and Explanations

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 14 – Giles' Place and Explanations

**Giles had just poured himself a nice cup of tea and was adding a thin lemon slice to the brew when his front door burst open. As Giles walked out of the kitchen with a tray laden with mugs and a coffee pot, he greeted with a smile Buffy and Riley. As he espied Spike saunter in behind him, he scowled briefly before turning his attention back to his Slayer.**

"**Giles, did Tara tell you we were all headed over here?" Buffy asked. And then before Giles had a chance to answer added, "Ooh, coffee!"**

"**Here you are Riley," Giles said amiably as he set the tray on a table and handed a mug to the ex-commando. Giles pointedly did not offer a mug to Spike, and barely acknowledged his presence with a short, "Spike."**

"**Rupert." Returned Spike before grabbing a coffee mug anyway. Though he wasn't much of a drinker of the junk, Giles had tried to snub him and that called for drastic action. Spike took two small swallows of the bitter drink, before setting the cup down. He figured he'd made the point.**

"**How much did Tara say on the phone?" Buffy wanted to know.**

"**Uh, duplicate Xander; probably Toth in disguise…"**

"**Okay, I have the real Xander at his and Anya's new apartment. Oh, yeah! Xander has a new apartment…I can't wait to see it. I bet it's really nice, he was so excited, and he said that Anya would just love it so it must be really roomy!" Buffy took a breath to swallow some of her own coffee, her cup having far too much sugar for Giles' liking.**

"**So," Riley interjected, "we're basically thinking that we can look for any Xanders running around Sunnydale and that should be Toth."**

"**Now, all we need is a way to defeat him. Do you think I can just beat him to death?"**

"**Well," Giles said, settling himself on a chair and grabbing a book. "I've been doing some research. I knew I had more detailed information here on the, uh, Tothric Clan. Anyway, now that we've got his staff away from him, he should be relatively easy to, uh, to defeat. Although, I'm starting to wonder about this alleged staff…it certainly looks like a plain old branch."**

"**That's what I said," Buffy added.**

"**But Xander did say that he took it off of Toth," Riley added.**

"**Well, according to my research, this particular demon clan specializes in powering up cedar staves. It's possible that this was an enchanted staff. Once Xander removed it from Toth's possession, it may have, uh, reverted. Turned itself back into the regular tree branch it started as."**

"**Doesn't that mean that Toth could have another powered-up branch, then?" Buffy wanted to know.**

"**Well, according to this grimoire, it is a rather involved process. Toth would have to be over a large vessel, or, uh, cauldron filled with herbs over a fire. It would require him to enter deep meditation for hours."**

"**Well," Spike interjected, "he's had all day for his meditating ass to come up with another magical stick, now hasn't he?"**

**Buffy turned to him, irritated. "Why exactly are you here, again?"**

"**Told you, pet. Where ever there's a Scoob in trouble, that's where I'll be to save the day. Especially, if it's Xander. He's nearly the only one of you lot that's worth the saving."**

"**Whatever, just stay out of my way. So, Giles…any way to make his magic blaster less blastery?"**

**Willow and Tara came rushing into the apartment before Giles could answer. Their arms were loaded with candles and bottles. As they struggled to find a place to dump their supplies, Willow was breathlessly describing Toth's weird behavior.**

**Tara added, "He seemed to be interested in mating with Willow."**

"**You too, huh" Spike said to Willow, though no one seemed to notice he was even there.**

"**I'm glad you two are safe," Buffy said, organizing her thoughts. "Okay, Giles, I need a way to defeat Toth fast, especially if he's managed to come up with another staff. Riley, help the girls get set up with their spell stuff, please. Willow and Tara, I need you to perform a search spell for Xander. We know the real deal is at the new apartment having his romantic dinner with Anya."**

**For some reason that Spike didn't understand, the thought of Xander going over so much trouble for that bint irritated him. He buried the sharp remark on his tongue, however, in the hope that they could move things along to the hitting part.**

"**So, whichever one is wandering around Sunnydale is the one we hit," Riley said.**

"**We're on it," Willow told the room, grabbing Tara's hand.**

**As Willow and Tara began concentrating, Riley spread out a map of Sunnydale. Anointing candles and lighting them, he glanced nervously at the girls. His province was military hardware; the magic stuff was just weird and it made him uncomfortable.**

**As Riley began to dust the city map with handfuls of reddish sand, Willow and Tara began to chant in what sounded like Latin. As Riley watched, the sand began to move of its own accord, drawing together into clumps. These clumps then began slowly moving over the map, glowing with a soft white light.**

**Buffy was waiting a little impatiently for some answers. She hated this part where all of her Slayer powers were basically useless. Unless the others could point her in the right direction, there wasn't anything for her to hit. She glanced over at the platinum blond. _Except for Spike, that is. Maybe if the witches' come up a bust, I'll beat on him. Especially, if he doesn't stop looking at me like that. What the hell is his problem?_**

**Spike tried to appear nonchalant as he waited for the whiz kids to tell them where Toth was wandering. He tried to feign disinterest in everyone around him, but Buffy was wearing some sort of body spray that smelled faintly of vanilla. His eyes kept being drawn to her of their own accord and he kept catching himself staring at her. _I really need to talk to her. I can't keep going on pretending I don't want her, despite the fact that she's still hanging around with Captain Plank-o-Wood._**

**As he caught Buffy looking at him with a puzzled expression on her face, he tried to play it cool. Nodding at her and giving her a small smile, he was rewarded with her eyes rolling and her sucking her teeth in irritation. She turned away from him quite deliberately and wandered over to see if the witches were making progress. Spike was left standing near the front door still, feeling left out. _The sooner we can save Xander, the better, _he thought. _He'll be grateful for my help even if Ms. Full-of-Herself isn't._**

**Giles sat up suddenly, looking around the room with urgency. "Oh, dear!" he exclaimed, receiving nothing back except a raised eyebrow from Spike.**

**Willow and Tara had opened their eyes and were looking at the results of their spell. "What is this," Willow said, mystified.**

"**What?" Buffy enquired, "Why are there three little Tinkerbells on the map?"**

"**Well, uh," Tara said, looking at Buffy's confused expression that she was sure matched her own, "according to this there are actually three Xanders running around town."**

**Willow added her own confusion, "Yeah. It looks like we have two Xanders at the corner of Medley and Wilkins Road. That's a residential neighborhood, it must be Xander's apartment building."**

"**Look at this Willow," Tara said before once again addressing Buffy. "It looks like the Xander we met is on the far side of the memorial park and headed in the direction of the other two."**

**Giles cleared his throat loudly, wishing to attract Buffy's attention. "Oh, dear?" he repeated.**

"**Oh, man! That's gotta mean that Toth and Xander are in the same building right now," Riley deduced. "And whoever Mystery Xander Number 3 is will soon be joining the party."**

"**Crap!" Buffy exclaimed, "We gotta call Xander. I mean our Xander and warn him to barricade the door till we get there. Who's got a cell with some minutes left?"**

"**I got it," Riley volunteered, already pulling out his phone and dialing.**

"**I said," Giles virtually yelled, "oh, dear over here!"**

"**Yes, but you always say that," Buffy responded.**

"**Well, it's always important. I think I've found what Toth has been trying to do."**

"**Well, don't keep us in suspense, Rupes," Spike said, trying to feel part of the gang.**

"**Toth's staff or more to the point, that blast that hit Xander? It was designed to split someone into their components, uh, psychically I mean. Separating different aspects into different physical bodies."**

**Buffy looked completely lost. "I don't get it. What was the point of that?"**

"**Well, think about it. If you had been hit with the ray instead of Xander, you'd have been split the way he apparently has been. All of your Slayer abilities in one Buffy, while the regular attributes went into another, more average Buffy."**

"**Wait," Riley said, "wouldn't that have just made another Super-Buffy? It seems like a sure way to end up dead for him."**

"**Think, muscle-boy," Spike said. "If one's Supergirl, the other is just plain human. Kill one and I bet the other one takes a dirt nap too. Am I right, Rupert?" Spike looked to Buffy, trying to gauge if he impressed her over Riley with this bit of deduction.**

"**Err, w-well, y-yes. That's exactly what I was, uh, going to say," Giles' responded. "We have to keep all three of these Xander's from killing each other. None of them are Toth. He must still be around somewhere looking for another chance to shoot the Slayer with another mystic bolt."**

**Spike rolled his eyes. Despite the fact he'd been ahead of everyone else in the room, Buffy apparently remained unimpressed. She didn't even bother looking over at him, let alone giving him some tiny crumb of acknowledgement.**

"**But why three?" Willow wanted to know.**

"**W-well, uh," Giles removed his glasses, slipping one arm into his mouth. After a brief second, his eyes lit up in comprehension. "Xander has been possessed twice, remember? Once during Ethan's pranks he was a soldier of some sort, I believe."**

"**Right!" Willow took over, "And then there was his hyena possession. That must have been the Xander that's looking for a mate! He's looking to create a stronger pack!"**

"**Then the Xander who met you in my room; that must have been our regular Xander. That's why he was still wearing those clothes he had on at the dump," Tara said, remembering Willow's description of him as they traveled toward Giles' place.**

"**That leaves the Xander with Anya as the soldier," Riley said.**

"**So how do we help him Giles," Buffy asked.**

"**We have to put them back together," Giles said, "mystically. It should be simple for Willow and Tara. Toth's magic is what is keeping them separated. Once it isn't a factor anymore, they should simply re-merge into one gestalt being. Uh, be the same Xander we're used to."**

"**No answer from Xander's cell though," Riley said, closing his phone hard in frustration, "he must either have it off, or…"**

"**Or it's too late and the Xander's are already trying to kill each other thinking their fighting Toth!" Buffy ran for the door, "Come on! We've gotta get over there before one of them does something that none of them can live with!"**

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End Ch 14


	15. A Meeting of the Xanders

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 15 – A Meeting of the Xanders

**Several blocks away from Giles' apartment, Zeppo-Xander was taking in the shocked faces of Anya and Toth (still looking like him, the bastard). He'd just managed to kick in the door, although it really hurt; it wasn't as easy as the cop shows made it look. He took in the romantic tableau in front of him and a red haze of anger descended over his sight.**

**As Zeppo-Xander was taking in what was happening in the apartment, Anya and Commando-Xander leapt to their feet. Commando immediately stepped in front of Anya to shield her from whatever Toth (in Xander face, but stinking more) had planned.**

"**Anya," Zeppo-Xander pleaded, "it's me! It's your snuggler! That thing is a demon, it's Toth wearing a disguise!"**

**Anya for her part was completely flabbergasted by what she was seeing. Upon hearing mention of Toth, she tensed. One of these Xander's was a fake and that meant she and the other Xander, whichever was real, were now in danger.**

"**Xander?" Anya asked, her gaze switching back and forth between the two.**

"**It's alright, honey," Commando said gently, "I'm really me. This guy, and I use the term loosely, is the fake. Just smell him; we know that Toth hangs out in the dump."**

"**No! That's not true. I mean," Zeppo said, getting flustered, "it's true he feeds in the dump. But I only smell this way because I woke up there this morning and have been spending this whole miserable day trying to stop," he pointed over at his counterpart, "him! Please Ahn, tell me you can tell this is me!"**

**Anya looked from the one Xander; smooth, attentive, caring and putting her desires above his own. Across from her stood another Xander, rumpled, smelly, and an unattractive air of desperation around him. She knew if she chose wrong, she'd be playing into a demon's hands. She glanced between the two again, her heart unable to help her choose which one was really Xander. As she took in the trash-smelling specimen before her, she made up her mind, placing a hand on 'her' Xander's shoulder.**

"**He stinks, Xander. Make him go away."**

"**Anya, come on!" Zeppo said, his hopes that she'd see through Toth's illusions, shattered. "You've hypnotized her," he shouted at his rival, spittle flying through the air.**

**Commando took a step toward the other Xander and went into an offensive stance. He was sizing up Toth, ready to give him a roundhouse to the side of the head and hoping that taking on Xander's form would also give him some vulnerability.**

"**You stay away from my girl!" Commando threatened, "I don't know what sick plans you're working on for her, but you take another step, and I'll kick your face into the back of your head."**

**Zeppo fumbled in his pocket, saying with deadly menace, "I don't think so." He pulled Riley's semi-automatic and pointed it in the direction of his alter-ego. "I don't think you're doing anything else to ruin our lives," he said, including Anya and all of the Scoobies in the statement.**

"**Xander!" Anya screamed in a panic, ducking around him. Before Toth or whoever he was had a chance to use the gun, Anya was on him, wrestling for control of the deadly weapon.**

"**Anya, no!" Zeppo shouted.**

"**Anya, get to safety!" Commando shouted, as he joined the melee over the gun.**

**As the three argued and struggled over the gun, they all heard another Xander sounding voice over the din. This one was guttural, but loud, "Willow thinks I'm not the real, Xander. I'm gonna do what I should have done already and kill you…" **

**Hyena-Xander took in the almost comic human pretzel of limbs in front of him. He could pick out Anya from two men who looked, and smelled, disturbingly like himself. "Wait a minute, there's two of you!"**

**There was a brief pause of silence in the room and everyone looked at everyone else. Confusion played uniformly of everyone in the room with the arrival of yet a third Xander. And then, pandemonium erupted!**

**As Anya re-doubled her efforts to get the gun away from one Xander, Hyena-Xander went into a full blown attack of hyena-laughter. Sizing up the other two beings with his face, he felt the confident strength of Commando-Xander. Immediately launching his own assault, he grabbed Commando by the upper arms and yanked him away from Zeppo and Anya. It was a miscalculation as Commando struck out at the throat of Hyena, forcing the other off of him. Before the new Xander could recover, Commando wound up a haymaker of a punch, decking and knocking Hyena to the floor unconscious.**

**Zeppo had finally gotten the upper hand, now that Commando was distracted by Hyena. Grabbing Anya's hands off of his gun hand wrist, he shoved her with his other forearm knocking her to the floor. "Sorry, Ahn, but you'll forgive me when you find out I really am Xander!"**

**Zeppo was in mid-turn to re-point the weapon on 'Toth' when, Commando grabbed his wrist. Wrenching it painfully, Zeppo couldn't help but let loose his grip and in moments he was staring down the barrel of Riley's pistol. **

**Commando-Xander stepped over toward Anya, as she regained her footing. "All right, Toth, now you just move back a few steps. Get away from me and Anya!"**

"**You're Toth, you bastard! At least have the decency to admit it!" Zeppo was fuming with rage, but his attention was locked on the pistol being pointed at him. As Commando emphasized his order with the pistol, Zeppo had no choice but to do as he was ordered. He took several steps backward, sweat now pouring down his face; his heart jackhammering.**

"**Anya, baby, you okay?" Commando said, his eyes never leaving Zeppo.**

"**Yeah, yeah, I think so. What do we do now?"**

"**We vanquish a demon and get on with our lives," Commando responded. He placed his free hand under the bottom of his gun hand's wrist and steadied his feet. **

**Zeppo cringed as he saw 'Toth' assuming a shooting stance. Looking desperately backward he saw that he'd never make it out of the apartment before Toth shot him. Xander tried desperately to hold back the tears of frustration and terror, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. He waited for the inevitable when Buffy's voice resounded in the already crowded room.**

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**Buffy Summers burst into the apartment, Riley close on her heels. The others were several steps back in the hallway. Looking around the room, she saw one of the Xander's holding a gun pointing on another of them.**

"**Everybody, freeze!" She yelled, her panic subsiding now that she knew no one had been shot yet.**

**As Spike joined the crowded room, Hyena-Xander roused. Seeing the vampire looking delicious in his leather coat and tight black jeans, he immediately leaped into a shocked Spike's arms.**

"**Spike!" Hyena shouted before beginning to nuzzle into the vampire's cool neck.**

**As Giles, Tara and Willow squeezed their way into the room, everyone was wearing a mixture of surprise, disgust, and shock. One of the Xander's was nibbling on Spike's neck. Spike seemed to be rooted in place somewhere between pushing Xander off, and letting him continue.**

**As Hyena-Xander began running his tongue along Spike's jawline and throat, the vampire began lowly growling in spite of himself. His eyes shut tight and he tried to fight down the wave of lust that was assaulting his body and threatening to make his jeans uncomfortably tight in a few moments.**

**Zeppo breathed a sigh of relief at being saved, not even minding that once again, he had needed saving. "Thank you, Buffy! Jesus, you're timing is right on. That's Toth!" He pointed at the demon who no one had yet disarmed.**

"**That's crap," Commando yelled, "Look Buffy, I got this handled. Just let me finish this demon off and we can all figure out what's going on with the spectacle over there," he waved in the general direction of Spike and Hyena.**

"**Okay," Buffy said, "everyone just calm down. There will be no more fighting or shooting of any kind. Just give us a minute to explain what's going on."**

**Giles stepped forward, "We've discovered that Toth's staff was designed to separate differing qualities of the Slayer into different physical forms. One would be all Slayer, but the other would be a regular college woman, and therefore easily killed by him."**

**Buffy took over, "You're making me nervous, Xander. I mean, Xander with the gun. I want you to hand it to me."**

**Commando hesitated a moment, glancing between the other two of him before doing as she requested. First he unloaded the clip one handed and then discharged the live round from its chamber.**

"**Hey, that's my gun!" Riley said, taking it from Buffy.**

"**Oh, yeah," Zeppo said sheepishly, "uh, I left a note for you. Don't worry about that window, I'll replace it."**

"**Window…"**

"**Uh," Giles broke in, "as I was trying to explain; all of you are Xander from different periods in his life. Stinky-Xander: you represent yourself without the coordination and skills you've picked up with you're involvement with the Slayer. Xander next to Anya: you would be Xander with the soldiering skills and physical attributes of you're time during Halloween, when Ethan was in town. Finally, the, uh, (Giles cleared his throat in discomfort, the Hyena Xander was hanging all over Spike), him: he would be Hyena-possessed Xander."**

"**So," Anya said, looking thoughtful, "their all differing aspects of Xander's core personality."**

"**Yes," Giles graced her with a smile, "you've got it exactly."**

"**Speaking of which," Buffy directed her attention toward the Hyena-personality. She had thought it was creepy enough when he'd tried to sexually assault her back in high-school. It was now far worse to see him nibbling at Spike's neck. Spike, for his part, had his eyes rolled into his head, his vampire face on. He had a dazed, but pleased smile on his face.**

"**Hyena-Xander, knock that stuff off! You're grossing me out! All of the Xanders, just line up over near the counter please."**

**As they all did as she had asked, Commando offered the comment, "You can't really blame Hyena-dude. I mean, Spike isn't exactly physically repulsive."**

"**Hey!" Zeppo yelled embarrassed and wigged. Around them everyone else faces were showing dismay and surprise.**

"**What?"**

"**Oh, god," Buffy said in exasperation, "could all of the Xanders just not talk. **

**As Hyena took his place on one side of Zeppo, he growled threateningly at his Commando counterpart. Commando just ignored him as Zeppo asked about the hypnosis disk he'd been using all day.**

"**Hypnosis disk? You mean my coin?" Commando pulled the disc out of his pocket, handing it over to Zeppo who turned it over in his hand.**

"**Hey, this is pretty cool! Where'd you get it?"**

"**It was lying next to the road. Some kid probably dropped it. I just thought it was kind of neat. Remember that time when we and Willow took turns flattening pennies on the railroad tracks?"**

"**Okay," Buffy told the room, trying to ignore the glares that Hyena-Xander was sending out to everyone in the room. _Everyone, but Spike: ewww!_**

"**Giles: you, Tara, and Wills are up." As Hyena-Xander growled and tensed, Buffy took a threatening step in his direction. "We have the counter spell ready to go. There is not going to be any more fighting, got that?"**

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End Ch 15


	16. Toth, Again

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 16 – Toth, Again

"**There is not going to be any more fighting," Buffy addressed Hyena-Xander, "got that?"**

**Behind her, Buffy heard an alarmed grunt from Giles as she spun around. Unfortunately, Toth was standing right there and Buffy was met by a hard scaly fist that sent her reeling across the room and onto the floor. She felt her shirt soaking through and thought she'd been tore open, until she smelled wine from underneath her.**

**Toth raised his wand in his tight grip and tried to fire off a shot at Buffy. But, Riley was able to kick the staff and the shot went wide, melting a hole in the carpeting to Buffy's right.**

"**Hey!" Commando-Xander yelled, as he leaped to engage Toth, "That was my security deposit!"**

**Buffy returned to her feet to see Toth's staff glowing in her direction again. Just as the staff fired another mystic charge, Buffy leaped out of the way, a window behind her shattering under the blow.**

"**Stop tearing up the apartment!" Commando yelled at Toth, kicking the staff nearly out of the demon's grasp. Toth recovered however, and returned a blow of his own, striking Xander across the head and sending him across the room into a far wall. Slamming heavily into the plaster, an impression of his head was left in the wall as he slunk down to the floor, heavily dazed.**

**Willow and Tara had retreated several steps away from the melee and were now shouting at the group. Trying to get everyone away from the demon so they could let loose with a spell or two, Willow groaned in frustration as Spike leapt into their line of fire.**

**As Spike got in a few ineffectual blows on Toth's heavily armored stomach, Buffy ran full tilt to rejoin the battle. Just as she reached the two sparring, Toth clobbered Spike with a meaty punch sending him to the floor in a heap. Hyena-Xander pounced onto Spike's prone form, "Stay down! Stay safe, Spike! This is Buffy's fight, not the packs!"**

**Buffy reached Toth and stuck him in the face with two forearm blows. As he staggered back toward the counter, she grabbed him around the head and slammed him face first, cracking the marble counter top. Toth immediately fell in a heap at her feet, unconscious.**

**Buffy, breathing hard, grabbed his staff and broke the mystic device over her knee. The staff seemed to grow hot for a moment, but even before she had time to react and drop it, she saw that it had reverted to an ordinary branch. Cedar, if she wasn't mistaken. She looked at Toth's prone form, only to see it fade away, leaving a dark burn mark in the shape of his body on the carpet.**

**Spike lay under Hyena-Xander, now more annoyed than he'd been when he had been nibbling his neck. "Do you mind?" he said, pushing Xander's form off of himself. **

**Buffy checked on Giles' condition and finding him alright, she ordered the various Xanders to get back into position for the de-spelling.**

"**Oh, man, look at this place," Zeppo whined. The apartment looked like a storm had raced through it. He'd be lucky if the police weren't already on their way. Of course, being Sunnydale, it was equally possible that no one would get involved, despite the obvious racket.**

**As Spike watched the Hyena-Xander walk back toward his place in line, he glanced over to see Tara's smirk, her watching him watch Xander's ass. Clearing his throat, he quickly made his exit with an, "Uh, you've got things in order here…"**

**Giles resumed his place before the interruption by Toth, "Well, are we ready to try this again, then?"**

"**Wait," Anya rushed up to him, "can't we just send the Spike-lusting one away? And then I could have the other two for the night? I mean, they can be re-merged at any old time, right?"**

**As Giles tried to answer, fighting his inability to make a coherent sentence in his embarrassment, Riley added to the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere. "Uh," Riley asked Buffy, though loud enough for the room to hear, "when my back is turned, has any of the Xander's been checking out my butt?"**

"**No!" Zeppo answered in a panic.**

"**Oh, puleeze," Commando responded, while Hyena simply rolled his eyes and glared sullenly at him.**

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**As Giles began giving each of the Xander's a lit candle, he told the group, "We're ready. And let's all forget there was any disturbing sex talk."**

**Willow and Tara joined hands again, taking a moment to center themselves. "Check," Willow said, "Sunnydale amnesia engaged." As Giles stepped away from the Xanders with their lit candles, she intoned, "Let that which was sundered, be put back together."**

"**That was it?" Xander said. But as he looked to his right and left, he found that he stood alone. "What happened to the other candles?"**

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End Ch 16


	17. October 4, 2000

**Spanderverse: Confusion of Three**

Ch. 17 – October 4, 2000

**Epilogue One:**

**Alexander Lavelle Harris; the one and only Xander Harris; stood in his former parent's and now his former bedroom looking over the room at the boxes piled here and there. Riley Finn was writing on one of these boxes: 'Summer Clothes'.**

"**So," said Riley, "you've decided to stay in the apartment, then?"**

"**Well," Xander responded, "my soldier alter-ego already signed the lease, so I'm sort of stuck with it now. Although, I expected us to be booted out thanks to the damage Toth did. The Hellmouth strikes again, though. Anya blurted out some cock-and-bull story about an ex-boyfriend stalking her and suddenly Bonita, the landlady, was all a'blubberin' in sympathy for her. I guess Anya gets her way this time around. Speaking of which, can you help her later with her things…I'm kinda barred from stepping on Ms. Milner's property."**

"**Yeah, no sweat. What are friends for?"**

**Xander stood for a moment, listening out of the bedroom window as the gang below laughed and joked. They were packing things in Tara and Giles' cars, boxes that were the sum and substance of his life, so far.**

"**It's going to take some clever juggling to be able to afford the apartment and make the minimal repairs this place requires to get it sold, not to mention a mortgage in the meantime. Of course, I can skip a payment here and there and make up for it during closing, I guess. If I'm really lucky, maybe mom can send a few bucks to help out."**

"**You'll do it," Riley said, "You're really gifted at all of that construction stuff. And we'll be here to help out in any way we can, you know that. And really, is it so bad getting a fresh start?"**

**Xander thought for a moment as he folded a heavy comforter for the move. "I guess I just don't really feel ready. I have the memories of my other selves still and Anya was talking to soldier-guy about kids and pets and a house with a white picket fence. I'm not even ready to marry her, yet, let alone get into all of that other life-stuff."**

**Riley looked over at his friend, "You have the hyena persona's memories, too?"**

"**Yeah. Pretty freaky. I mean, he killed and ate raw animals in the woods. And I'm trying like hell to repress that scene with Spike in the apartment from all of our memories."**

**Riley quirked his brow, "He seemed to be really into Spike."**

**The room grew still as Xander tried to hide what was going through his mind. When he sneaked a peek, Riley was looking at him and waiting for his response.**

**Xander cleared his throat a little nervously, "It, uh, was just that he had this pack mentality. He kinda resented Buffy the Slayer being in charge of the Scoobs. I guess he was looking for somebody to take as a mate who would add to his own strength. Y'know, challenge Buffy for leadership. When I was possessed before, back in high school I mean, I tried to force Buff to mate with me. Thankfully she just clobbered me before I could do something I'd be regretting forever. Plus, technically, the Hyena spirit that originally possessed me was an Alpha-female. That kinda made me a male lesbian when trying to get Buffy and a straight woman when going after Spike. It's all a big mess of confusion."**

"**You know," Riley tried to pick his way carefully around the topic, "it's okay if you're not 100 percent straight. I mean, nobody would treat you any different."**

"**Maybe. But I thought I was straight, completely straight I mean. Recent events are really confusing me about it though. Listen, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't go talking to everybody about this though, Riles. I need to sort everything out in my head. Not to mention what I'm gonna do when I see Spike, next. He must be completely freaking out over all this."**

"**Sure. I can keep it to myself, but just so you know, I'm here to talk to."**

"**Yeah, Mr. Commando, I'm sure you're really gonna want to hear all about the rainbow pride in me. Assuming it's not just a residual of bi-hyena."**

"**My friend, Graham, he's way gay. I've got no problems with that at all. In fact, I still consider him to be the closest friend I have. Despite the fact that I'm not exactly sure where he's at these days."**

"**Well," Xander said, "thanks. Right now, I just want to focus on Anya though. Maybe the rest of it will just fade with a little time. Those personalities kind of went away after a while, before."**

**Riley shrugged, "You couldn't have a better woman. And at least she really seems to be head over heels for you."**

"**At least?"**

**Riley looked at Xander again, meeting his eyes. He took a deep breath, surprised he was about to air out loud the thoughts he'd been harboring since the Dracula incident. "Buffy is one of the greatest women I've ever known. When I'm next to her, I just feel more alive." Riley gave him a brief and sad smile, "But she's not in love with me."**

**Xander didn't know what to say to that. They both went back to boxing up the contents of the room in silence.**

**Epilogue Two:**

**Dawn walked into the kitchen, having just gotten home from school. She expected to find Buffy waiting with her foot tapping, as Dawn had hung out at the candy store for a bit with Janice before coming home. Instead, she found her mother looking over a cookbook.**

"**Hey, mom! How come you're home?"**

"**Oh, I got caught up on things for a change. So I left Denise in charge and told her that I was going to cook something delicious instead of making you girls heat up something frozen for a change. I've missed cooking, and that's something I thought I'd never say."**

"**You're feeling okay, then."**

"**Sure, honey. So, I've checked the freezer and I can de-thaw pork chops or chicken breasts in the microwave. What are you in the mood for?"**

**Dawn smiled, "How's about ordering pizza? Like a meat lovers with extra sauce? Oh, and those cheesy bread things with the dipping sauce?"**

**Joyce laughed, "I think you're missing the 'I was gonna cook' part of my plans." But even as she said it, Joyce was headed for the phone to dial Mr. Pizzeria's Home of Pies. As she reached out for the phone, she felt a wave of sudden dizziness catch her by surprise.**

**Dawn saw Joyce grab the counter, her body swaying unsteady as she'd been reaching for the phone. "Mom?" she questioned, worried over her mother's sudden odd behavior.**

**Joyce turned toward Dawn with a confused expression on her face, "Who are you? How'd you get in this house!"**

**As Dawn struggled to make sense of what was happening, her mother suddenly fell to the kitchen floor.**

"**Mom! Mom?" Dawn cried, rushing to the still form of her mother, "Mommy, wake up!"**

**Dawn raced to the phone and dialed 911, tears flowing down her face, "Help me, my mom's fallen unconscious! I can't wake her up!" she screamed over the phone.**

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End Story

Stories in Series

BTVS: Seasons 1 through 4 up to, but not including 'Restless'.

Spanderverse: To Dream

Spanderverse: After 314

Spanderverse: Spike

Spanderverse: Dracula

Spanderverse: Burial

BTVS: 'Real Me'

Spanderverse: The Confusion of Three


End file.
